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CHAP. XX. and bind another province to the United Netherlands. They brought over with them the liberal ideas, and honest maxims, and homely virtues of their country. They introduced their church and their schools, their Domines and their schoolmasters. They carried along with them their huge clasped Bibles, and left them heir-looms in their families. They gave the names which they had loved in their Lowland homes to the new abodes which they chose among the red men of the forest. They came with no loud-sounding pretensions to grandeur in purpose, eminence in holiness, or superiority in character. They were more accustomed to do than to boast; nor have their descendants been ambitious to invite and appropriate excessive praise for the services their ancestors rendered in extending the limits of Christendom, and in stamping upon America its distinguishing features of freedom in religion and liberality in political faith. Born in a land where the first lessons of childhood were lessons of self-reliance and unceasing toil, they brought into the wilderness their hereditary habits of industry and thrift, that they might win and enjoy the rewards of active labor. Benevolent and social, they desired to see all around them happy; the enfranchised African might, and did obtain a freehold; while the negro who remained under an institution of patriarchal simplicity, scarcely knowing he was in bondage, danced merrily as the best, in "kermis," at Christmas and Pinckster. Husbandmen and traders they chiefly were. Yet men of science and acquirement were not wanting among the fathers of New York. Van der Donck, Megapolensis, and De Vries published valuable materials for our early history; while the correspondence of Stuyvesant, Beeckman, and Van Rensselaer sufficiently attests their scholarship and capacity. The clergymen of the province were all men of thorough education; Van Dincklagen, Van Schelluyne, and De Sille were learned in the law; La Montagne, Staats, Kierstede, Van Imbroeck, Du Parck, Curtius, and Megapolensis were eminent as physicians and surgeons. In the annals of no other state are there names

more patriotic and honorable than those of Kuyter, Melyn, CHAP. XX. and Van Curler.

Although Hollanders formed the chief element in the population of New Netherland, a happy intermixture of other races contributed to insure the prosperity of the state. Venerating the liberal example of their ancestral land, the first occupants of the province looked upon commerce as the solvent of national antipathies; and, without requiring uniformity in doctrine, or a homogeneous lineage, they made the hearth-stone the test of citizenship, and demanded residence and loyalty as the only obligations of their multifarious associates. Thus Walloons, Waldenses, Huguenots, Swedes, Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Anabaptists, and English Quakers all planted themselves beside the natives of Holland. The Dutch province always had both popular freedom and public spirit enough to attract within its borders voluntary immigrants from the neighboring British colonies. If the Fatherland gave an asylum to self-exiled Puritans of England, New Netherland as liberally sheltered refugees from the intolerant governments on her eastern frontier. And in the cordial welcome which her earliest burghers gave to all who sought permanent homes among them, may be traced the origin of that large and comprehensive spirit which has made the island of Manhattan the attractive metropolis of the Columbian World.

Much of what has been written of American history has been written by those who, from habit or prejudice, have been inclined to magnify the influence and extol the merit of the Anglo-Saxon race, at the expense of every other element which has assisted to form the national greatness. In no particular has this been more remarkable than in the unjust view which has so often been taken of the founders of New York. Holland has long been a theme for the ridicule of British writers; and, even in this country, the character and manners of the Dutch have been made the subjects of an unworthy depreciation, caused perhaps, in some instances, by too ready an imitation of those provin

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CHAP. XX. cial chroniclers who could see little good in their "noxious neighbors" of New Netherland.

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Yet, without undervaluing others, it may confidently be claimed that to no nation in the world is the Republic of the West more indebted than to the United Provinces, for the idea of the confederation of sovereign states; for noble principles of constitutional freedom; for magnanimous sentiments of religious toleration; for characteristic sympathy with the subjects of oppression; for liberal doctrines in trade and commerce; for illustrious patterns of private integrity and public virtue; and for generous and timely aid in the establishment of independence. Nowhere among the people of the United States can men be found excelling in honesty, industry, courtesy, or accomplishment the posterity of the early Dutch settlers in New Netherland. And, when the providence of God decreed that the rights of humanity were again to be maintained through long years of endurance and of war, the descendants of Hollanders nobly emulated the example of their forefathers; nor was their steadfast patriotism outdone by that of any of the heroes in the strife which made the blood-stained soil of New York and New Jersey THE NETHERLANDS OF AMERICA.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A, CHAPTER I., PAGE 31-35.

THE following account of the first arrival of Europeans in New York is taken from a manuscript communicated by the Reverend John Heckewelder to the Reverend Doctor Miller, in 1801, and by him deposited in the library of the New York Historical Society. Mr. Heckewelder was a Moravian missionary among the Pennsylvania Indians; and he states that his account "is verbatim as it was related to me by aged and respected Delawares, Monseys, and Mahicanni (otherwise called Mohegans, Mahicanders) near forty years ago," or about 1760. "A long time ago, when there was no such thing known to the Indians as people with a white skin (their expression), some Indians who had been out a fishing, and where the sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large swimming or floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. They immediately, returning to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they had seen, and pressed them to go out with them and discover what it might be. These together hurried out, and saw, to their great surprise, the phenomenon, but could not agree what it might be; some concluding it either to be an uncommon large fish or other animal, while others were of opinion it must be some very large house. It was at length agreed among those who were spectators that, as this phenomenon moved toward the land, whether or not it was an animal, or any thing that had life in it, it would be well to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard. Accordingly, they sent runners and watermen off to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that these might send off in every direction for the warriors to come in. These arriving in numbers, and themselves viewing the strange appearance, and that it was actually moving toward them (the entrance of the river or bay), concluded it to be a large canoe or house, in which the great Manitto (Great or Supreme Being) himself was, and that he probably was coming to visit them. By this time the chiefs of the different tribes were assembled on York Island, and were counseling or deliberating on the manner they should receive their Manitto on his arrival. Every step had been taken to be well provided with a plenty of meat for a sacrifice; the women were accosted to prepare the best of victuals; idols or images were examined and put in order; and a grand dance was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Manitto, but it might, with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute toward appeasing him, in case he was angry with them. The conjurors were also set to work to determine what the meaning of this phenomenon was, and what the result would be. Both to these, and to the chiefs and wise men of the nation, men, women, and children were looking up for advice and protection. Between hope and fear, and in confusion, a dance commenced. While in this situation, fresh runners arrive, declaring it to be a house of various colors, and crowded with living creatures. It now appears to be certain that it is the great Manitto, bringing them some kind of game such as they had not before. But other runners soon after arriving, declare it a large house of various colors, full of people, yet of quite a different color than they (the Indians) are of; that they were also dressed in a different manner from them; and that one, in particular, appeared altogether red, which must be the Manitto himself. They are soon hailed from the vessel, though in a language they do not understand, yet they shout (or yell) in their way. Many are for running off to the woods, but are pressed by others to stay, in order not to give offense to their visitor, who could find them out, and might destroy them. The house (or large canoe, as some will have it) stops, and a smaller canoe comes ashore with the red man and some others in it. Some stay by this canoe to guard it. The chiefs and wise men (or counselors) had composed a large circle into which the red-clothed man with two others approach. He salutes them with friendly countenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are lost in admiration both as to the color of the skin of these whites, as also to their manner of dress; yet most as to the habit of him who wore the red clothes, which shone with something [lace?] they could not account for, He must be the great Manitto (Supreme Being), they think; but why should he have a white skin? A large, elegant hock hack (a gourd or decanter) is brought forward by one of the supposed Manitto's servants, and from this a substance is poured out into a small cup or glass, and handed to the

Manitto. The (expected) Manitto drinks, has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief next to him to drink. The chief receives the glass, but only smells at it, and passes it on to the next chief, who does the same. The glass thus passes through the circle without the contents being tasted by any one; and is on the point of being returned again to the red-clothed man, when one of their number, a spirited man and great warrior, jumps up, harangues the assembly on the impropriety of returning the glass with the contents in it; that the same was handed them by the Manitto in order that they should drink it, as he himself had done before them; that this would please him; but to return what he had given to them might provoke him, and be the cause of their being destroyed by him. And that since he believed it for the good of the nation that the contents offered them should be drank, and as no one was willing to drink it, he would, let the consequence be what it would ; and that it was better for one man to die than for a whole nation to be destroyed. He then took the glass, and, bidding the assembly a farewell, drank it off. Every eye was fixed on their resolute companion, to see what an effect this would have upon him; and he soon beginning to stagger about, and, at last dropping to the ground, they bemoan him. He falls into a sleep, and they view him as expiring. He awakes again, jumps up, and declares that he never before felt himself so happy as after he had drank the cup. He wishes for more. His wish is granted; and the whole assembly soon join him, and become intoxicated. After this general intoxication had ceased (during which time the whites had confined themselves to their vessel), the man with the red clothes returned again to them, and distributed presents among them, to wit, beads, axes, hoes, stockings, &c. They say that they had become familiar to each other, and were made to understand by signs that they now would return home, but would visit them next year again, when they would bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile; but that, as they could not live without eating, they should then want a little land of them, to sow some seeds, in order to raise herbs to put in their broth."-Heckewelder, in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 71-73; and in Moulton, 252-254. Thus Indian tradition confirms and amplifies the authentic accounts of the revel on board the Half Moon as she was exploring the Hudson River. The tradition, however, while it preserves and embellishes the main fact, erroneously fixes the scene of the event at Manhattan Island. Mr. Heckewelder adds, that the Delawares derive the name of the island from the "general intoxication" which, according to their tradition, occurred there. But the Albany Records (xviii., 348) authoritatively declare that it was so called "after the ancient name of the tribe of savages among whom the Dutch first settled themselves." Besides, it appears very clearly from Juet's journal of Hudson's voyage, that the scene of the revelry was in the cabin of the Half Moon, while she was at anchor near Albany. See also Schoolcraft, in N. Y. H. S. Proc., 1844, Appendix, 96, and North American Review, ix., 163–165.

NOTE B, CHAPTER I., PAGE 36.

"The country of which we propose to speak was first discovered, in the year of our Lord 1609, by the ship Half Moon, of which Henry Hudson was master and supercargo, at the expense of the chartered East India Company, though in search of a different object [a northwest passage to China]. It was subsequently called New Netherland by our people, and very justly, as it was first discovered and possessed by Netherlanders, and at their cost; so that even at the present day, those natives of the country who are so old as to recollect when the Dutch ships first came here, declare that when they saw them they did not know what to make of them, and could not comprehend whether they came down from heaven or were of the devil. Some of them, when the first one arrived, even imagined it to be a fish, or some monster of the sea, and accordingly a strange report of it spread over the whole land. We have also heard the Indians frequently say that they knew nothing of any other part of the world, or any other people than their own, before the arrival of the Netherlanders. For these reasons, therefore, and on account of the similarity of climate, situation, and fertility, this place is rightly called New Netherland."-Holland Documents, volume iv., page 71; Van der Donck's “Vertoogh van Nieuw Nederlandt," translated by Mr. Murphy, in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 261, 262; ante, p. 512.

"That this country was first discovered by the Netherlanders is evident and clear from the fact that the Indians or natives of the land, many of whom are still living, and with whom I have conversed, declare freely that they are old enough to remember distinctly that before the arrival of our Netherland's ship the Half Moon, in the year 1609, they, the natives, did not know that there were any other people in the world than those who were like their neighbors round about them, much less any people who differed from them so much in race and fashion as we did. Their men were bare on the breast and about the mouth, and their women, like ours, very hairy; they were unclothed, and almost naked, especially in summer, and we were all the time clad and covered. When some of them first saw our ship approaching afar off, they did not know what to think about her, but stood in deep