The Commercial Tercentenary of New York 1614-1914 Reprinted from the First Annual Report of the New^York Commercial Tercentenary Commission to the Legislature of the State of New York Containing a Brief History of the Beginning of the Regularly Chartered .Commerce of New Netherland and the Permanent Settlement of what is now the State of New York The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission No. 154 Nassau Street, New York 1914 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 1614—1914 Commemorative Meeting Upon the 300th Anniversary of the Grant- ing, by the States General of the United Netherlands, of the firsT: Charter for Trading to what is now the State of New York Under the Auspices of The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission At the Hotel A&or, New York City Friday Evening, March 27, 1914 Program Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Beginning of the Chartered Commerce of New York Organ Recital from 8.15 to 8.30 p. m. by Arthur Bergh Acknowledgment of Divine Blessings of Three Centuries of Growth and Prosperity, by Monsignor M. J. Lavelle, Vicar General, representing His Eminence John Cardinal Farley. "The Second City of the World," by His Honor the Mayor of New York, John Purroy Mitchel. Soprano Solo by Miss Grace Hoffman, "Care Nome" from ** Rigoletto," Verdi " The North American Indian of Three Hundred Years Ago," by Fillmore Jackson, an Iroquois Indian. " The North American Indian of Today and Tomorrow," by Dr. Joseph Kossuth Dixon, leader of the Rod- man Wanamaker expeditions among the Indians. " The United Netherlands," by Hon. A. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Consul of the Netherlands at New York. "Fort Orange, the First Permanent Settlement in New Netherland," by His Honor the Mayor of Albany, Joseph W. Stevens. Piano Solo by Albert von Doenhoff Polonaise in A flat, Chopin "The First Families of New Netherlands by Tunis G. Bergen, LL. D., ex-President of the Holland Soci- ety, descendant of first white child born in New Nether land. "The New Route to Cathay," by Hon. Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Com- mission, 1905-1907, under President Roosevelt. " The Merchants of New York,'* by Samuel W. Fairchild, manufacturer and merchant, President of the Union League Club. Baritone Solos by James Stanley (a) " The Night Rider," Bergh (b) " Lundgi dal Caro Bene," Fecchi (c) " A Red, Red Rose," Hastings " The Relations of Education and Commerce," by Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Ph. D., LL. D., Chancellor of New York University, formerly United States Commissioner of Education. "The Relations of Art and Commerce," by Edwin H. Blashfield, artist, President of the Society of Mural Painters. " The Relations of Science and Commerce,'' by George Frederick Kunz, Ph. D., Sc. D., scientist, President of the New York Academy of Sciences. Benediction by Right Rev. David H. Greer, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of New York. Organ Postlude by Arthur Bergh Music under the direction of Prof. Henry T. Fleck, head of the Music Department of the Normal College of the City of New York. Ushers from the Boy Scouts of America : Lorillard Spencer, Presi- dent of New York City Council ; Charles L. Pollard, Executive Deputy Scout Commissioner. Steinway Piano used. The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission Officers President Cornelius Vanderbilt, 30 Pine St., New York Vice-Presidents Hon. Herman Ridder, 182 William St., New York Vincent Astor John D. Rockefeller, Jr. August Belmont Col. Henry W. Sackett Andrew Carnegie, LL. D. Jacob H. Schiff Gen. Howard Carroll Isaac N. Seligman Hon. George B. Cortelyou Hon. Theodore P. Shonts George J. Gould Hon. R. A. C. Smith George F. Kunz, Ph. D., Sc. D. James Speyer Clarence H. Mackay Henry R. Towne Hon. Morgan J. O'Brien Theodore N. Vail Hon. Alton B. Parker William Ziegler, Jr. Treasurer Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co. Secretary Edward Hagaman Hall, L.H.D., Tribune Building, New York Assistant Secretary A. E. MacKinnon. Note The representatives of the original proprietors of New Netherlands in attendance at this meeting are Iroquois Indians from the Cattaraugus, N. Y. Reservation. Their civilized names are Fillmore Jackson, Walter Kennedy, Beemus Pierce, Theodore Jameson, Orlando Doxstadter, Frank Logan, Heeman Bennett, Frank Kennedy, Hiram Printup and Miss Anna Pattison. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/commercialtercenOOnewy The ommercial Tercentenary of New York 1614-1914 Reprinted from the First Annual Report of the New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission to the Legislature of the State of New York Containing a Brief History of the Beginning of the Regularly Chartered Commerce of New Netherland and the Permanent Settle- ment of what is now the State of New York The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission No. 154 Nassau Street, New York 1914 art CONTENTS PAGE Letter of transmittal 5 Organization of the Commission 7 By-laws of the Commission 8 Financial Affairs 9 Official Flag 10 Plan of the Celebration 10 Headquarters of the Commission 14 Officers of the Commission 14 Chairmen of Committees 15 Members of the Commission 16 APPENDIX The New York Commercial Tercentenary: Being a Brief History of the Primitive Conditions, the Beginning of the Commerce and the Permanent Settlement of New Netherland, Prepared from Original Sources 21 Introduction 23 Primitive Conditions in New Netherland 29 Return of Half Moon to Holland in 1609-1610 41 Voyages to New Netherland in 1610 43 Search for Northeast and Northwest Passages in 1610-1611 45 Voyages to the Hudson in 1611-1613 46 Argall's Alleged Visit to Manhattan Island in 1613 49 Beginning of Chartered Trade in 1614 54 Building of the First Ship in New Netherland in 1614 58 The Figurative Maps of 1614 61 Building of Fort Nassau at Albany in 1614 64 Significance of the Year 1614 66 Commerce Continued Until Permanent Settlement 68 What Constitutes "Settlement" 69 Permanent Settlement of Fort Orange in 1624 71 Commercial Prosperity in 1624 and 1625 74 Colony Reinforced in 1625 75 Permanent Settlement of New Amsterdam in 1626 77 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Old Amsterdam in Holland. Part of an engraving of 1606. The low, round tower with conical roof is the Schreyerstoren or Weeper's Tower, from which friends of mariners watched the departure of ships for New Netherland. This tower, built in 1482, is still standing. The shipping is of the period when commerce with New Netherland began. In the upper right hand corner, the City of Amsterdam is personified by a woman, holding in her right hand a ship and in her left hand a shield which displays the City's coat-of-arms. Approaching her are Mercury, the god of trade, and merchants of all nations with their products. The words " Mercury " and " merchant " come from the same Latin root meaning trade 1 Fort Orange, now Albany, permanently settled in 1624. From a mural painting by Elmer E. Garnsey in the United States Custom House, New York 8 The Purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians in 1626. From a painting by Alfred Fredericks for the New York Title Guarantee and Trust Company 16 New Amsterdam, now New York, permanently settled in 1626. From a painting by E. L. Henry for the New York Title Guarantee and Trust Company. The extreme southern end of Manhattan Island was called by the Dutch the Schreyershoeck, or Weeper's Point, for a reason similar to that for the name of the Schreyerstoren in old Amsterdam . 24 Fortified Indian Village. From an etching by De Bry, illustrating Hariot's Relations, 1590, based on drawing made by John White in Virginia. While it depicts the manner in which the coastal Algonquins, to whom the Manhattan tribes belonged, built their cabins and fortified their villages, yet the same methods prevailed among the Iroquois also .... 32 Making an Indian Canoe. From an etching by De Bry, illustrating Hariot's Relation, 1590, based on a drawing made by John White in Virginia. It represents the method of hollowing a canoe out of a solid log with the aid of fire, practiced by the coastal Algonquins. The Manhattan Indians used canoes of this kind. The Iroquois made fighter craft of birch bark 40 Indians Broiling Fish. From an etching by DeBry, illustrating Hariot's Relations, 1590, after a drawing by John White. A custom of the coastal Algonquins 48 Indians "Seetheynge Their Meate in Earthen Pottes." From an etching by DeBry, illustrating Hariot's Relations, 1590, after a drawing by John White. A custom of the coastal Algonquins 64 The First Map of Manahata and Manhatin. Extract from a copy of a map made by an Englishman in 1610; surreptitiously obtained by Alonso de Velasco, Spanish Ambassador to England, and sent to Philip III; now in the General Archives of Simancas. An outline of the whole map, from which this extract is copied, is in Brown's "Gen- esis of the United States," published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co Inside of back cover [4] STATE OF NEW YORK No. 25 IN ASSEMBLY March 4, 1914 New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission Incorporated by Chapter 3 1 3 of the Laws of 1913 of the State of New York to Celebrate in 1914 the 300th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Chartered Commerce of New York No. 154 Nassau Street, New York March 2, 1914. Hon. Thaddeus C. Sweet, Speaker of the Assembly, Albany, Sir. — Pursuant to Chapter 313 of the Laws of 1913, I have the honor to transmit herewith to the Legislature of the State of New York the first Annual Report of the New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission. President CORNELIUS VANDERBILT Presiding Vice-President HON. HERMAN RIDDER N. Y.: Yours respectfully, CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, President. [5] FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission Organization of the Commission New York, March 2, 1914. To the Legislature of the State of New York: The New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission, incor- porated by chapter 313 of the Laws of 1913, respectfully pre- sents this its first Annual Report. This Commission is the outgrowth of a citizens' committee appointed by the late Mayor William J. Gaynor of the City of New York in December, 1912, upon the request of a number of prominent merchants, business houses, boards of trade and com- mercial exchanges of New York City, and was incorporated by special act of the Legislature for the purpose of celebrating in 1914 the three hundredth anniversary of the granting of the first charters by the States General of the United Netherlands for trading to New Netherland. The history of the events commemorated are set forth in a monograph by the Secretary of the Commission appended to this Report. The names of the members of the Commission are given here- with. They consist of the gentlemen named in the act of incor- poration, and those who were previously or have been subsequently associated with them by appointment by the Governor of the State or the Mayor of the City of New York ; also the Mayors of all the cities of the State and the Presidents of the incorporated villages of the Hudson Valley, ex officio. Section 5 of the charter of the Commission provides that no member of the Commission, except the Secretary and one or more [7] 8 assistants to the Secretary, shall receive any compensation for services or be pecuniarily interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract relating to its affairs. The Commission permanently organized on May 14, 1913, when the following By-laws were adopted : By-laws of the Commission ARTICLE I. Section 1. Office. The office and place of business of the New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission shall be in the City of New York, where all meetings shall be held unless otherwise ordered by the Trustees. Section 2. Trustees' Meetings. The regular meetings of the Trustees shall be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month, provided that when such date of meeting shall fall on a holiday, the meeting shall be held on the following day. Section 3. Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting of the members of the Commission for the election of Trustees and for the transaction of such other business as may come before it shall be held on the first Wednesday after the first Monday of May, each year, at 3 p. m. Section 4. Other Meetings. Other meetings of the Trustees or Commission may be held upon the call of the President, and must be called by him upon the written request of ten Trustees. Section 5. Quorum. At meetings of the Trustees ten shall constitute a quorum, and at meetings of the Commission the members who are present shall constitute a quorum. Section 6. Notices. Notices of meetings of the Trustees shall be sent to each Trustee at least two days before the time of meeting. ARTICLE II. Section 1. Officers. The officers of the Commission shall be a President, twenty-five Vice-Presidents, a Secretary and a Treasurer, all of whom shall be Trustees, and shall be elected annually at the meeting of the Trustees in May and shall hold office for one year, and until others are elected in their stead. There may be one or more Assistant Secretaries who shall be appointed by and hold office at the pleasure of the Trustees. Section 2. Trustees. The number of Trustees shall be 100, who shall be elected annually by the persons named and designated in the first section of the Charter. The Trustees named in the Charter may appoint additional Trustees to hold office until the election in 1914, but the whole number of Trustees shall not at any time exceed 100. Section 3. Vacancies. Vacancies in the Board of Trustees or Officers may be filled for the unexpired term by a majority vote of the Trustees present at any duly called meeting. When a Trustee shall have absented himself from three successive meetings, the Trustees may, in their discretion, declare the office vacant, and elect a Trustee for the unexpired term. Section 4. President. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Trustees and of the Commission; he shall appoint all committees; and be Chairman of the Executive Committee and ex officio a member of all standing committees except when otherwise expressly relieved from such service, and he shall have a general supervision of the affairs of the Commission. Section 5. Vice-Presidents. In the absence of the President or his inability to act, one of the Vice-Presidents, to be designated by him in writing, shall perform his duties and possess his powers. If he makes no designation, it shall be made by the Trustees. Section 6. Treasurer, The Treasurer shall receive, collect and hold, sub- ject to the order of the Board of Trustees, all moneys, securities and deeds 9 belonging or due to the Commission, pay all bills when approved by the Trus- tees or the Executive Committee, deposit all money of the Commission in some depository to be approved by the Trustees, and render a report of the finances at each meeting o. the Board of Trustees and at the Annual Meeting of the Commission. Money shall be drawn only on the check of the Treasurer, countersigned by the President or Secretary. Section 7. Secietary. Ihe Secretary shall keep the records of the Com- mission, of the Board of Trustees and of Committees, issue all notices, and perform the other duties ordinarily incident to that office, and when directed by the Trustees, affix the seal of the Commission. Section 8. Assistant Secretaries. The Assistant Secretaries shall perform such duties as may be assigned to them. ARTICLE in. Section 1. Order of Business. The order of business of meetings of the Commission shall be as follows, unless otherwise ordered: 1, Roll call; 2, Reading of minutes of the meetings not previously read; 3, Election of Trus- tees; 4, Report of Treasurer; 5, Reports of Committees; 6, Communications; 7, Miscellaneous business. Section 2. Reports, Resolutions and Votes. At meetings of the Commis- sion and Board of Trustees, reports and resolutions shall be in writing. The yeas and nays shall be called on all resolutions authorizing the expenditure of money, and on all other questions, when requested by one member. ARTICLE IV. Executive Committee. There shall be an Executive Committee which shall consist of the Officers of the Commission and twenty-five other Trustees. It shall have general management of the affairs of the Commission, subject to the approval of the Trustees, and shall meet at least once a month. Seven of its number shall constitute a quorum. It shall elect one of its number as Vice-Chairman, who shall preside in the absence of the Chairman, and who shall perform such other duties as may be conferred upon him by such Com- mittee, not inconsistent with these By-law r s. It shall appoint such sub-com- mittees and confer such powers thereon as it may deem advisable. A special meeting of the Executive Committee must be called by the Chairman upon the written request of five members, the purpose of such meeting to be stated in the call. ARTICLE V. Seal. The seal of the Commission shall be (description to be inserted after the adoption of the seal). ARTICLE VI. Amendments. Amendments to these By-laws may be proposed in writing at any meeting of the Trustees. If twenty-five of the Trustees be present, any amendment may be adopted by unanimous consent; otherwise it shall be post- poned until a subsequent meeting, in which case the Secretary shall, with the notice of the next meeting, send a copy of the proposed amendment, stating that it will be brought up for action at such meeting, when it may be passed by a majority vote. Financial Affairs In view of the significance of the celebration to the business, commercial and industrial interests of the State and City, the Commission hopes that both the State and City governments will make liberal appropriations for its purposes. Such appropria- tions, it expects, will be reinforced by generous private subscrip- 2 10 tions. Up to the present time, the running expenses of the Com- mission have been met by contributions of the Trustees. Official Flag The official flag of the Commission, adopted January 28, 1914, consists of three vertical bars, Nassau blue, white and Nassau orange, the blue bar at the staff. In the center of the white bar, the coat-of-arms. Charge: Upon a shield argent a marine view; in base a Dutch merchant vessel under sail on a body of water, all proper; sky argent and azure. Crest: On a wreath azure and argent a Dutch windmill proper. Supporters: On a quasi-compartment formed by the extension of the ribbon or scroll : Dexter: A Dutch merchantman proper ; Dutch hat proper; vested vert; about the waist a belt gules; hose and shoes sable ; buckles on shoes or ; in the dexter hand a charter scroll argent; the sinister arm embowed, hand supporting shield at the dexter chief point. Sinister: A North American Indian proper ; hair dressed and decorated with feathers ; about the waist, skins proper; feet moccasined proper; in the sinister hand a pelt ; the dexter arm embowed, hand supporting the shield at the sinister chief point. Motto: Below the shield on a scroll argent, azure and or 1614-1914. Plan of Celebration It is proposed to begin the Celebration on Friday, March 27, 1914, the three hundredth anniversary of the granting of the first general charter by the States General of the United Netherlands for trading to this region. On this date it is intended to have an Historical Meeting, with certain religious features. On the following Saturday and Sunday, March 28 and 29, it is recommended that the congregations of all religious denomina- tions hold services of praise and thanksgiving for the blessings of three centuries of progress. The foregoing meetings will sound the keynote of the celebra- tion, afford an opportunity to acquaint the public with the plans for later events and serve to stimulate popular participation in them. J 1 It is proposed that the following months of April and May be devoted to various forms of commemoration in both the ele- mentary and higher institutions of learning. On days to be deter- mined by the respective educational authorities it is recommended that there be commemorative exercises in the public schools, with prize essays and orations and illustrated lectures for adults under the auspices of the Board of Education ; educational symposiums by our universities, to which the great teachers of the world may be invited ; the holding of a comparative exhibition of the pro- gress of commercial education in American and foreign cities ; the establishment of a permanent exchange of students and teachers of commercial subjects between New York and the lead- ing centers of commercial education abroad ; and the establish- ment of permanent offices of international information on these subjects. It is possible that at this time, or later in the year, the opening of the new College of Administration and Commerce may be made a feature of the celebration. Beginning in the month of June and continuing through July and August and into September, it is proposed to hold a series of exhibitions of the material resources of the various States of the Union. The Commission is advised that numerous commercial bodies in different parts of the country will be glad to participate. The period of the exhibition will be divided into five successive parts, each part being devoted to one grand division of the country. It is expected to hold them in the Grand Central Palace, New York City, for which an option has been secured by the Commission. The dates planned for the exhibitions are as follows, an interval of about a week being allowed after each of the first four for changing to the next : 1st. Monday, June 8, to Saturday, June 20. 2d. Saturday, June 27, to Saturday, July 11. 3d. Saturday, July 18, to Saturday, August 1. 4th. Saturday, August 8, to Saturday, August 22. 5th. Saturday, August 29, to Saturday, September 12. During these exhibitions there will be an exhibition by the older commercial houses of New York showing the business progress of the City. 12 During the months of June, July and August, it is proposed to hold athletic meets, children's festivals and local fiestas by the people of different nationalities in all parts of the City. Early in September* it is proposed that the leading museums, historical societies and technical societies open exhibitions appro- priate to the events commemorated, the exhibitions to remain open until the close of the Celebration about the middle of Octo- ber. One week devoted to the opening of exhibitions on successive days by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Historical Society, the Brook- lyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the New York Zoological Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden, is expected to lend dignity and emphasis to this part of the Celebration. In view of the important relation of the Panama Canal to the commerce of New York, as well as that of the world, it is pro- posed that the practical opening of the Canal in 1914 be celebrated by suitable exercises on land and water. As the most convenient time for a parade of merchant and passenger vessels and pleasure craft would be the second week of September, it is recommended that this observance be set for the week beginning Monday, September 7. During this week it is planned to hold a Pan-American Con- gress at which the commercial relations of New York, and the United States generally, with the other nations of the two Americas may be discussed. During the same week of September 7 it is recommended that there be local celebrations in the Cities along the Erie Canal, beginning at Buffalo and proceeding eastward day by day to Koch- chester, Auburn, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady and Troy. In the week beginning Monday, September 14, it is proposed to recognize the Centennial of Peace between the English-speaking peoples. As a part of the Peace Jubilee, it is recommended that a Music Festival on a large scale be held, in which instrumental and sing- ing societies shall be invited to participate. * The dates, for the events proposed for the early part of September will probably be readjusted so as not to conflict with the Cup Races. 13 During the week of September 14 it is recommended that there be local celebrations in the Cities of the Southern Tier of Counties of this State. The week beginning Monday, September 21, is reserved mainly for local celebrations along the Hudson Eiver, and in recognition of the prior permanent settlement of Albany (Fort Orange) it is proposed that these celebrations begin at the upper end of the river and work southward instead of beginning at the lower end and going northward, as in the case of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. By the foregoing arrangement, it will be observed that the local celebrations throughout the State will have been concluded before the last two weeks of the Celebration in New York, leaving the Cities of the State free to participate in the display of Cities in New York mentioned hereafter. During the week beginning on Monday, September 28, it is recommended that there be in New York City a Pageant of States, in which all the States of the Union shall be invited to participate, each State to furnish one or more floats representing its history or its resources. It is recommended that this pageant be repeated on different days in each of the five boroughs of the City. With respect to these parades and those of the following week, it has been suggested that some, if not most of them, be held in the evening, when the people of the City generally are not employed and when business will not be interrupted. As a consequence, the general illumination of the streets would begin this week. During the closing week, beginning Monday, October 5, it is recommended that there be four street parades, namely (1) a merchants' and manufacturers' parade, in which the business houses of the City shall be represented; (2) an automobile parade; (3) a Pageant of Cities, in which New York and the other cities of the State shall be represented by municipal depart- ment exhibits or otherwise; and (4) a parade of men from the ships of the United States and foreign navies and from the pas- senger and merchant ships in the harbor. It is recommended that the last parade above mentioned be held on Saturday, October 10, in conjunction with the laying of the 14 corner-stone or inauguration of a permanent memorial of some kind. It is suggested that the permanent memorial be not a monument or statue, but a public work, such as a ceremonial water-gate, a permanent reviewing stand for public ceremonies, a stadium, a public building or institution, such as an industrial museum, or a park or a bridge. The Commission, through its Committee on Memorials, has already devoted a great deal of time and consideration to this subject, and at the present writing the prospect is that the recommendation of the Commission will embrace a plan which will combine a water-gate, commercial museum, and assembly hall. Other features of the closing week will be a naval review, an official banquet, entertainment for the sailors, etc. As October 11, the three hundredth anniversary of the granting of the first special charter for trading to New Netherland, falls on Sunday, it is recommended that the Celebration close on this day, as it will have begun on March 27, with religious observance. The foregoing are the principal features of the plans as now contemplated, but many additional features have been suggested, if practicable. The Commission has employed Mr. A. H. Stoddard as Director of Commercial Exhibits and Pageantry. Headquarters of the Commission The headquarters of the Commission are at No. 154 Nassau Street, New York. Officers of the Commission Following is a list of the Officers of the Commission, the Chair- men of Committees and members of the Commission : President: Cornelius Vanderbilt, 30 Pine St., New York. Vice-Presidents: Hon. Herman Kidder, 182 William St., New York, Vincent Astor, August Belmont, Andrew Carnegie, LL.D., Gen. Howard Carroll, Hon. George B. Cortelyou, George J. Gould, George F. Kunz, Ph.D., Sc.D., Clarence H. Mackay, Hon. Morgan J. O'Brien, Hon. Alton B. Parker, John D. Rocke- feller, Jr., Col. Henry W. Sackett, Jacob H. Schiff, Isaac N. Seligman, Hon. Theodore P. Shonts, Hon. P. A. C, Smith, James L5 Speyer, Henry K. Towne, Theodore N. Vail, and William Ziegler, Jr. Treasurer: Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co., 15 Broad St., New York. Secretary: Edward Hagaman Hall, L.H.D., 154 Nassau St., New York. Assistant Secretary: A. E. MacKinnon, 154 Nassau St., New York. Chairmen of Committees Athletics: Hon. James E. Sullivan. Auditing: Hon. N. Taylor Phillips. Banquet: Samuel W. Fairchild. Commercial Exhibits: E. P. V. Kitter. Contracts: Hon. Robert L. Harrison. Designs and Decorations: Charles R. Lamb. Educational Institutions: Elmer E. Brown, Ph.D., LL.D. Erie Canal: The Mayor of Syracuse. Executive: Hon. Herman Bidder. Finance: Hon. R. Ross Appleton. Flag and Poster: Louis Annin Ames. Historical Meetings: Samuel V. Hoffman. Illuminations: Hon. William Berri. Law and Legislation: Hon. Alton B. Parker. Local Festivals: Hon. William J. Lee. Lower Hudson Committee: The Mayor of Yonkers. Medal and Badge: Henry R. Drowne. Memorials: Franklin W. Hooper, LL.D. Museum Exhibits: George F. Kunz, Ph.D., Sc.D. Music Festivals: Prof. Henry T. Fleck. Naval Events: Hon. R. A. C. Smith. Netherlands: Henry L. Bogert. Nominatioyis Committee: Col. Henry W. Sackett. Northern New York: The Mayor of Watertown. Panama Canal: Hon. Theodore P. Shonts. Pan-American Congress: (Vacant). Peace Centennial: Hon. William B. Howland. Plan and Scope: Gen. Howard Carroll. Publicity: A. E. MacKinnon. Reception: Cornelius Vanderbilt. Religious Meetings: Hon. John D. Crimmins. Reviewing Stands: William A. Johnston. Southern New York: The Mayor of Binghamton. Street Parades: Gen. George R. Dyer, N. G., N. Y. Upper Hudson : The Mayor of Albany. 16 Members of the Commission In the following list of members of the Commission, the names of Trustees are printed in italics: Hon. Robert Adamson John Adikes Lieut. C. J. Ahern Newton D. Ailing Louis Annin Ames Hon. R. Ross Appleton John Aspegren Vincent As tor Robert C. Auld Charles J. Austin Aaron J. Bach Bernard M. Baruch A. G. Batehelder Charles Beckman August Belmont Marcus Benjamin, Ph.D., Sc.D. Tunis G. Bergen Bon. William Berri Charles A. Berrian Union N. Bethell F. S. Bishop Rudolph Block Solomon Bloom Samuel J. Bloomingdale E. C. Blum Henry Lawrence Bogert Robert W. Boissevain George C. Boldt Reginald Pelham Bolton Dr. A. C. Bonaschi H. A. Bonnell Paul Bonynge Charles A. Boody Hon. David A. Boody William A. Boring E. B. Boynton Nicholas F. Brady William C. Breed Herbert L. Bridgman Nathaniel L. Britton, Sc.D.. Ph.D. C. C. Brown Elmer E. Brown, Ph.D., LL.D. James W. Brown D. J. Burrell, D.D. John H. Burroughs J. R. Butler Nicholas M. Butler, LL.D., Litt.D. Hon. William M. Calder Hugh N. Camp. Jr. James G. Cannon Hon. Jacob A. Cantor Andrew Carnegie, LL.D. Gen. Howard Carroll John Carstensen E. R. Chapman William Hamlin Childs Hon. Joseph H. Choate Hon. Thomas W. Churchill Henry Clews, Ph.D., LL.D. Edward K. Cone Hon. Maurice E. Connolly Hugh Connolly Cesare Conti John C. Cook Robert Crier Cooke P. H. Coombs Hon. George B. Cortelyou Clarhson Coiol Hon. J. Sergeant Cram C. Ward Crampton, M.D. John B. Creighton Hon. John D. Crimmins Hon. George Cromwell William N. Cromwell Warren Cruikshank Col. Michael J. Cummings Andrew Cuneo Hon. H. H. Curran Charles F. Dalv Com. Fred B. Dalzell M. E. asres. the preponderance of evidence in favor of the facts stated. Tt is hoped that what may thus be lost in fluency of narrative may be more than compensated for by the knowledge of the foundation for the conclusions. 44 Meteren predicted is heightened by the circumstances attending the making of the earliest known map of Manahata in 1610 which is in the general archives in Simancas, Spain. This map, which is reproduced in Alexander Brown's " Genesis of the United States " and a portion of which is reproduced herewith, was sent to the King of Spain in a letter dated March 22, 1611, by Alonso de Velasco, the Spanish ambassador to England. Yelasco, who secretly conveyed to his sovereign every bit of information which he could get about English explorations and discoveries, wrote that in 1610 the King of England had sent to Virginia a surveyor to survey the province and the surveyor had returned to London about the month of December, 1610, with a map of all he had dis- covered. Velasco surreptitiously obtained a copy of the map and sent it with his letter. (Brown's Genesis of the U. S.) It is not known who made the map, which delineates the Atlantic coast from Cape Fear to Newfoundland. It is evident that whoever did make it embodied in it information derived from others. But the startling fact concerning the Hudson river is, that this is the first approximately correct delineation of it, certain characteristic crooks and turns in it indicating that it was drawn by a man who had been up the river. As it is most likely that Hudson would sacredly have guarded his maps for his Dutch employers, it is in the same degree probable that the Hudson river was delineated by an Englishman who visited it in 1610 as stated by Velasco. We also have more convincing evidence from De Laet, and from Van Kampen's " Nederlanders buiten Europa " (I, 331) that the Dutch sent a ship back to the Hudson river in 1610. De Laet says : " Hendrick Hudson having returned to Amsterdam with this report, in the year 1610 some merchants again sent a ship thither — that is to say, to the second river discovered, which was called Manhattes from the savage nation that dwells at its mouth." (Narr. New Keth. p. 38.) This Dutch voyage of 1610 is indicated again in a memorial by the West India Company to the States General exhibited May 5, 1632, in which the memorialists say: " Subsequent to the first discovery by your subjects in 1609 of the North Eiver (commonly called the Manhattos, also Rio de 45 Montaigne and North River) and after some of your inhabitants had resorted thither in the year 1610 and following years," etc. (Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, I, 51.) We deduce the names of the promoters of the Dutch voyage of 1610 from De Laet and the Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York. In the 1625 edition of De Laet above quoted, he says "in the year 1610 some merchants again sent a ship thither." In the editions of 1633 and 1640 he says "some merchants of Amsterdam/' He also says: "And in the subsequent years " — that is, the years subsequent to 1610 — " their High Mightinesses the States General granted to these merchants the exclusive privilege of navigating this river and trading there. Whereupon, in the year 1615," etc. (Narr. New Neth. p. 38.) Now the merchants to whom this exclusive privilege was given are named in the grant of October 11, 1614 (see page 56 following), and therefore must have been the pro- moters of the voyage in 1610. Search for Northeast and Northwest Passages in 1610 and 1611 The voyages to New Netherland in 1610 appear to have been in the nature of private enterprises, stimulated by the reports of Hudson's voyage of 1609, and to have been of importance secondary to the movements of the more powerfully organized English and Dutch companies, whose dominant idea was to find a short passage to the East Indies either by the northeastward around Asia or the northwestward around North America. Thus it was in 1610, the English East India Company, the Company of Merchant Adventurers and a group of noblemen and London merchants, united in sending out Hudson, not to revisit and take possession of the Hudson River region, but to seek a northwest passage to the Indies. While Hudson's ship was wintering in Hudson's Bay, the Col- lege of the Admiralty at Amsterdam, possessed with the same idea, was preparing, under the authority of the States General, to equip an expedition to attempt again the northeast passage by way of the North Cape and Vaigats. Nevertheless, the projectors appear not to have forgotten entirely the results of Hudson's voyage in 1609, and, while preparing for a northeast voyage, to 46 have had a mental squint toward the west. In March, 1611, this expedition set forth. It consisted of two ships, the Fox (de Vos), sometimes called in the Dutch records the Little Fox (de Vosgen of Vosken), and the Crane (de Craen), sometimes called the Little Crane (de Craentgen or Craentien). The skipper of the Fox was Jan Cornelisz. May and that of the Crane was Simon Willemsz. Cat. They started bravely for the North Cape and Nova Zembla, just as Hudson did in 1609, and, finding themselves baffled as he was, also imitated him by turning their prows for America. They reached Nova Scotia in October, 1611, and ex- plored the New England coast as far south as Cape Cod, which latter they reached February 15, 1612. Thence they returned to their former quest of a passage by Nova Zembla, without visiting the Hudson River. (De Reis van Jan Cornelisz. May, published by the Linschoten Society at the Hague in 1909.) The foregoing voyages of Hudson and May are mentioned, not- withstanding the fact that their destinations were not the Hudson River, in order to show by comparison the relative characters of the voyages in search of the northwest and northeast passages on the one hand and the voyages to the Hudson River on the other, during the next few years. The searches for the northwest and northeast passages were conducted under combinations of powerful patronage, while the excursions to the Hudson River between 1609 and 1614 were private ventures, much in the nature of prospecting trips. Voyages to the Hudson in 1611-1613 That enterprising skippers reached these waters between the voyages definitely referred to as having been made in 1610 and those of the five ships which were made in 1614 and are mentioned hereafter, there are reasons to believe. One of the evidences of such visits is the Carte Figurative which is described more fully on page 61 following. This map, which was made not later than 1616 and possibly as early as 1614, has this memorandum, written in Dutch script, above the site of Albany : "As well as one can understand from the words and signs of the Mohawks, the French come with sloops as high up as to their country to trade with them." (Docs. Rel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y.) -17 It is reasonable to infer that the visits of French traders, which had become customary in 1614 or 1616, began long enough before to have fallen within the period of 1611-13. There is more definite data, however, for placing in this period a known but undated voyage by Hendrick Christiaenssen of Cleves, described by Wassenaer in the following passage : " This country, or the River Montague, called by ours Mauri- tius, was first sailed to by the worthy Hendrick Christiaenz of Cleves. When he had been on a voyage to the West Indies he happened near there. But his vessel being laden and a ship be- longing to Monickendam having been wrecked in that neighbor- hood, he durst not approach that land; this he postponed, being desirous to do so another time. It so happened that he and the worthy Adriaen Block chartered a ship with the skipper Ryser, and accomplished his voyage thither, bringing back with him two sons of the principal sachem there. Though very dull men they were expert enough in knavery. " (Narr. New Neth. p. 78.) " The two lads brought hither by Adriaen Block were named Orson and Valentine.* This Orson was a thoroughly wicked fel- low, and after his return to his own country was the cause of Hendrick Christiaenssen's death. But he was paid in like coin ; he got a bullet as his recompense." (Narr. New iSTeth. p. 81.) In the foregoing quotation we have references to three voyages. * These names are taken from an old romance in which Orson and Valentine were the twin sons of the Emperor of Constantinople. Orson, according to the old story, was carried away by a bear and reared as a savage in the forest. The practice of capturing Indians and taking them to Europe was a common one. Probably all of the early explorers tried to do it and many were suc- cessful. Columbus began the practice in 1492. Verrazzano followed his example in 1524 by making prisoner of a boy on the Maryland or Virginia coast and would have done the same with a " young woman who was of much beauty and of tall stature " but was prevented by her screams. Cartier, on his first voyage in 1534, captured two Indian boys who had been confided to him by their father and took them to France. He brought them back on his second voyage and found them very helpful, but he recaptured them, and in addition five chiefs — Donnacona. Taignoagny, Domagaya, and two others — all of whom died in France. In 1605 Capt. George Weymouth captured five Indians on the New England Coast. In 1606, Capt. Edward Harlow captured five chiefs on the New England coast, one of whom, Exenow, "was showed up and down London for money as a wonder." In 1609, Hudson captured some Indians who in good faith went aboard the Half Moon in New York harbor, but they escaped and made him trouble afterward. In 1614 Capt. Hunt took Squanto from the New England coast to sell to the Spaniards, but the Indian managed to reach England and subsequently returned to Massachusetts where he was of much assistance to the Pilgrim settlers. These are only a few instances of many that might be cited. Some of the Indians were taken, like Squanto, to be sold into slavery; some merely as curiosities; and some for education as future interpreters. All, so far as we know, were taken against their will, and almost invariably by some cruel deceit. 48 Mentioned in chronological order they are: First, the voyage by the ship from Monickendam which was wrecked; second, the voyage by Christiaenssen when he discovered the Monickendam wreck ; and third, the subsequent voyage under the partnership of Christiaenssen and Block, with Ryser as skipper. Reckoning backward, we can fix the years of these voyages pretty closely. Let us consider first Christiaenssen's voyage in partnership with Block. Wassenaer says: " This aforesaid Hendrick Christiaenz, after Adriaen Block had dissolved partnership with him, made ten voyages thither under a grant from the Lords States." (Earr. New Neth. p. 78.) The first grant from the States General under which Christiaens- sen sailed was the general charter dated March 27, 1614. (See page 54 following.) The names of the skippers and partners who sailed under that grant are named in the specific charter granted October 11, 1G14. (See page 56 following.) Upon examination of the latter we find that the employing partners of the voyages in 1614 were various merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn; that Block and Christiaenssen were skippers in their employ ; and that there was no skipper named Ryser among them. By exclusion, therefore, we see that the voyage of the skipper Ryser in the em- ployment of Block and Christiaenssen was not one of those made in 1614 between the dates of the general charter in March, 1614, and the special charter in October, 1614 ; and as it was made before Christiaenssen's voyages under the grant of the States General it must have been made prior to 1614, that is to say, in 1613 at latest. Now, since the Block-Christiaenssen partnership voyage with Ryser as skipper was made not later than 1613, Christiaenssen's previous voyage, when he saw the Monickendam wreck, must have been made in 1612, unless he made two voyages in 1613, which latter was not likely at that period. As to the date of the Monickendam wreck, we have no means of judging whether it had occurred just before Christiaenssen's arrival or earlier. Wassenaer 's cursory mention of the Monickendam vessel, due to its unfortunate fate, leads one to wonder how many other voy- ages may have been made about that time by inquisitive skippers who returned in safety and of whom we have no record. 49 Argall's Alleged Visit to Manhattan in 1613 The backward method of demonstration employed under the pre- vious heading necessitated the grouping of a number of events in the period of 1611-13. But there was one alleged event ascribed particularly to the year 1613, which requires separate considera- tion, for the reason that upon it has been predicated the claim that Manhattan Island was settled in that year by the Dutch ; that the infant settlement at that time dwelt in " four house3 " which were situated at No. 39 or No. 41 Broadway ; and that it was governed by a Dutch Governor. The sole basis for this claim is a 32-page pamphlet which was published in London in 1648 and purported to have been written by " Beauchamp Plantagenet." It is entitled : "A Description of the Province of New Albion, And a Direction for Adventurers with small stock to get two for one, and good land freely: And for Gentlemen, and all Servants, Labourers, and Artificers, to live plentifully," etc. It is addressed " To the Eight Honourable and Mighty Lord Edmund by Divine Providence Lord Proprietor, Earl Palatine, Governour and Captain Generall of the Province of New Albion, and to the Right Honourable the Lord Vicount Monson of Castle- main, the Lord Sherard Baron of Letrim: and to all other Vicounts, Barons, Baronets, Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants, Ad- venturers, and Planters of the hopefull Company of New Albion, in all 44 undertakers and subscribers, bound by Indenture to bring and settle 3000 able trained men in our said severall Planta- tions in the said Province." It is dated December 5, 1648. The pamphlet is in the nature of a prospectus designed to pro- mote a colonizing scheme. In phrases often incoherent, the author indulges in some high-flown metaphors ; tells something of his alleged genealogy and alleged travels ; gives extravagant descriptions of conditions and affairs in New Albion, and at length comes to the following passage containing the reference to Manhattan Island: " Then Virginia being granted, settled, and all that part now called Maryland, New Albion and New Scotland, being part of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale and Sir Samuel Argoll, Captains and 50 Counsellors of Virginia, hearing of divers Aliens and Intruders and Traders without licence, with a Vessel and forty soldiers landed at a place called Mount Desert in Nova Scotia near S. Iohns river, or Twede, possest by the French, there killed some French, took away their Guns and dismantled the Fort, and in their return landed at Manhatas Isle in Hudsons river, where they found four houses huilt, and a pretended Dutch Governour, under the West India Company of Amsterdam share or part ; who kept trading boats and trucking with the Indians ; but the said Knights told him their Commission was to expell him and all Aliens Intruders on his Majesties Dominion and Territories, this being part of Virginia, and this river an English discovery of Hudson an Englishman, the Dutch man contented them for their charge and voiage, and by his Letter sent to Virginia and re- corded, submitted himself, Company and Plantation to his Majesty, and to the Governour and government of Virginia ; but the next pretended Dutch Governour in Maps and printed Cards, calling this part New Netherland, failing in payment of customes, at his return to Plymouth in England, was there with his Bever goods and person, attached to his damage 1500 1. whereupon at the suit of the Governour and Councell of Virginia, his now Majesty by his Embassadour in Holland, co'plaining of the said Aliens intrusion on such is Territories & Dominions, the said Lords, the States of Holland, by their publique instrument de- clared, That they did not avow, nor would protect them, being a private party of the Amsterdam West India Company, but left them to his Majesties wil & mercy: whereupon three severall Orders from the Councell Table, and Commissions having been granted for the expelling and removing from thence, of which they taking notice, and knowing their weaknesse and want of victuals, have offered to sell the same for 2500 1. And lastly, taking ad- vantage of our present war & distractions, now ask 7000 1. and have lately offered many affronts & damages to his Maiestis sub- jects in New England: and in srenerall endanger all his Majesties adjoyning Countries, most wickedly, feloniously and traiterously, contrary to the Marine and Admirall Laws of all Christians, sell by whole sale guns, powder, shot and ammunition to the Indians, instructing: them in the use of our fights and arms ; insomuch as 2000 Indians bv them armed, Mohacks, Raritans, and some of Long" Isle with their own guns so sold them, fall into war with the Dutch, destroyed all their scattering Farms and Boors, in forcing them all to retire to their Up fort 40 leagues up that river, and to Manhatas, for all or most retreatiner to Manhatas, it is now a pretty town of trade having more English then Dutch : and it is 51 very considerable that three years since Stuy their Governour put out his Declaration, confessing that the neighbour English might well be offended with their selling Indians arms and am- munition, but being but a few and so scattered, they could not live else there, or trade, the Indians refusing to trade or suffer the Dutch to plow without they would sell them guns." It will be noted that no date is given for the visit of Argall to Manhattan Island; but as his excursion to Mount Desert was made in 1613, it is implied that 1613 was the date of his visit to Manhattan. All claims that Manhattan Island was settled in 1613 and that four houses built by Europeans were standing there in that year are traceable to this pamphlet and their validity depends upon the reliability of its assertions. At the outset, the pamphlet lacks the credibility of a reliable author, for the writer either discredits himself by false statements concerning his genealogy or else he is hiding behind a pseudonym to escape responsibility for his loose statements. On February 3, 1840, Mr. John Pennington read before the Pennsylvania His- torical Society a paper entitled "An Examination of Beauchamp Plantagenet's description of the Province of New Albion " in which he points out discrepancies in Plantagenet's genealogy, as- suming that Plantagenet was a real person. On the other hand, Alexander Brown, in his " Genesis of the United States," con- cludes that " Beauchamp Plantagenet " is a pseudonym covering the authorship of Sir Edmund Ployden, the patentee of New Albion. But quite aside from the question of authorship, and without considering the numerous departures from truth in other parts of the pamphlet, the passage already quoted supplies obvious evi- dence of unreliability. In the first place there was no Dutch West India Company in 1613 and no Dutch Governor, as alleged in the pamphlet. This allegation alone is sufficient to shake confidence in the accuracy of other statements, especially in the significant absence of cor- roborative evidence. In fact, there is nothing outside of this pamphlet to support the claim that Argall and Dale visited Man- hattan in 1613. The written and recorded submission alleged to have been made by the Dutch Governor in 1613, of so much im- 52 portance if a fact, has never come to light. And that no such trans- action occurred at that time is strongly indicated in the generous treatment afterward accorded by the States General to Captain Dale. In 1603, Dale, an Englishman, was commissioned Captain in the Netherlands army. In 1611, the British ambassador at the Hague requested that Dale be granted a leave of absence in order that he might be employed in Virginia on his Majesty's service ; and the petition was granted. (Docs. Pel. Col. Hist. S. 1ST. Y. I, 1-3.) Dale subsequently became Governor of Virginia. In 1618, he applied to the States General for pay during his absence from the Netherlands and the sum of £1,000 was granted to him. (Brown's Genesis of the IT. S.) If Dale, five years before, had been a party to forcing the Dutch occupants of Manhattan to surrender their claims thereto, it is highly improbable that the States General would have rewarded him so liberally. Another illustration of Plantagenet' s inaccuracy may be found in his reference to " Stuy " (meaning Stuyvesant) in the closing sentence of the quotation we have given. He says that " three years since, Stuy, their Governor," confessed that the neighboring English had good cause to complain of the sale of firearms to the Indians by the Dutch. As this New Albion pamphlet was dated December, 1648, " three years since " would be 1645, whereas Stuyvesant did not assume the government until 1647. We will give one more illustration of " Plantagenet's " ignor- ance of or recklessness with dates, and will then offer testimony to show that the incidents which he coupled with Argall's expedi- tion of 1613 may have occurred in 1622. In another part of the pamphlet, " Plantagenet " refers to " the next river called Hudsons river, of the name of Hudson an Eng- lishman, the discoverer thirty-five years since, who sold his dis- covery, plots and cards to the Dutch." Thirty-five years prior to. the date of the pamphlet would have been 1613, instead of 1609, when Hudson made his voyage. The rest of the pamphlet is an equally hopeless jumble. While it is not essential to our present purposes to discover what " Plantagenet " actually had in mind when he wrote the pas- sage about Manhattan Island before quoted, we may, as a matter of interest, cite a document which appears to give us a clue. 53 Under date of April 2, 16o2, Capt. John Marion sent to Sir John Coke, English Secretary of State, a letter which read in part as follows (abbreviations of the original here spelled out) : " In ye year of our Lord God 1621, or thereabouts, certain Hol- landers were upon the coast of New England trading with ye Indians betwixt Cape Cod and Bay de la Warre in 40. degrees of Northerly latitude. . . . And Sir Samuell Argall Knight with many English planters were prepareing to goe and sit downe in his lott of land upon ye said Manahata river at the same tyme when the Dutch intruded, which caused a Demurre in their pro- ceding until King James, upon complaint of my Lord of Arundell with Sir Ferdinando Gorges Knight and the said Sir Samuell Argall (formerly Governor of Virginia) and Capt John Mason) of ye sayd Dutch Intruders in Anno 1621 had, by his Majesties order a letter to ye Lord of Dorchester their Ambassador at ye Hague, questioned the States of ye Low Countries for that mat- ter. Which ye Lords ye States by answer (as I take it) of their ambassador Sir Nowell Carronne did disclayme, disavowing any such act that was done by their people with their authority : which my Lord of Arundell and I think ye Lord Baltimore (then Secre- tary of State) doe remember, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captaine Mason can witness ye same. Nevertheless, ye yeare fol- lowing, which (as I take it) was 1622, the sayd Dutch, under a pretended authority from ye West India Company of Holland maintayned as they sayd by commission from ye said Prince of Aurange, did return to ye foresayd river of Manahata and made plantation there." (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. pp. 16-17.) In the foregoing letter we appear to have a statement of facts connected with ArgalPs proposed colony at Manhattan, occurring in 1621 and 1622, when the Dutch West India Company did exist, and including the statement by a respectable authority concerning a Dutch disclaimer, which " Plantagenet," in his ill- regulated mind, connected with Argall's excursion to Mount Desert in 1613. The evidence of the unworthiness of the " Plantagenet " pam- phlet appears so obvious in the light of what we have already stated that it seems unnecessary to strengthen the case against it by quoting Murphy, Pennington, and others. We may add, how- ever, this single sentence from a letter of Mr. Victor H. Paltsits of New York, formerly State Historian, who has recently made a fresh and critical examination of the pamphlet. He says: o4 " I have examined this tract critically, noting its general un- worthiness and the impossibility of its assertions about Dale and Argall finding Dutch at Manhattan and under circumstances therein set forth." Chartered Trading Begins in 1614 While it is apparent from the statements in preceding pages that ships visited these waters prior to 1614, they were mere private ventures, apparently made with a view to ascertaining the commercial possibilities of the newly discovered region. When we come to the year 1614, we find a radical and important change in the character and results of these voyages. In the first place, we are not obliged to resort to deduction for our conclusions. The facts are matters of documentary record. In the second place, the trading becomes regularly chartered. And thirdly, the results are of capital importance. The information brought back from the voyages before 1614, including the evidences of a very valuable trade in furs, led the merchants of Amsterdam and some other ports to apply to the States General for a charter, but before granting them a specific charter, the States General judiciously required them to demon- strate their title to such special privilege. The States General therefore on March 27, 1614, issued the following general charter for discoveries (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. 1ST. Y. I, 5-6) : " The States General of the United Netherlands. To all those who shall see these presents or hear them read. Greeting. Be it Known, Whereas We understand it would be honorable, service- able and profitable to this Country, and for the promotion of its prosperity, as well as for the maintenance of seafaring people, that the good Inhabitants should be excited and encouraged to employ and occupy themselves in seeking out and discovering Passages, Havens, Countries and places that have not before now been discovered nor frequented; and being informed by some Traders that they intend, with God's merciful help, by diligence, labor, danger and expense, to employ themselves thereat, as they expect to derive a handsome profit therefrom, if it pleased Us to privilege, charter and favor them, that they alone might resort and sail to and frequent the passages, havens, countries and places to be by them newly found and discovered, for six voyages as a com- pensation for their outlays, trouble and risk, with interdiction to all, directly or indirectly to resort or sail to, or frequent the said 55 passages, havens, countries or places, before and until the first discoverers and tinders thereof shall have completed the aforesaid six voyages: Therefore, We having duly weighed the aforesaid matter and finding, as hereinbefore stated, the said undertaking to be laudable, honorable and serviceable for the prosperity of the United Provinces, And wishing that the experiment be free and open to all and every of the Inhabitants of this country, have invited and do hereby invite, all and every of the Inhabitants of the United Netherlands to the aforesaid search, and, therefore, have granted and consented, grant and consent hereby that whoso- ever any new Passages, Havens, Countries or Places shall from now henceforward discover, shall alone resort to the same or cause them to be frequented for four voyages, without any other person directly or indirectly sailing, frequenting or resorting, from the United Netherlands, to the said newly discovered and found pas- sages, havens, countries or places, until the first discoverer and finder shall have made, or cause to be made the said four voyages, on pain of confiscation of the goods and ships wherewith the con- trary attempt shall be made, and a fine of Fifty thousand Nether- lands Ducats, to the profit of the aforesaid finder or discoverer. Well understanding that the discoverer on completion of the first voyage, shall be holden within fourteen days after his return from said Voyage, to render unto Us a pertinent Report of the afore- said discoveries and adventures, in order, on hearing thereof We may adjudge and declare, according to circumstances and dis- tance, within what time the aforesaid four voyages must be com- pleted. Provided that We do not understand to prejudice hereby or in any way to diminish our former Charters and Concessions : And, if one or more Companies find and discover, in or about one time or one year, such new Passages, Countries, havens or Places, the same shall conjointly enjoy this Our Grant and Privilege; and in case any differences or questions concerning these, or other- wise should arise or occur from this our Concession, the same shall be decided by Us, whereby each shall have to regulate himself. And in order that this Our Concession shall be made known equally to all, We have ordered that these be published and affixed at the usual places in the United Countries. Thus done at the Assembly of the Lords States General at the Hague the XXVII th of March XVP and fourteen. Was parapheered — J. van 01denbarnevelt vt . Under stood — By order of the Lords States General, C. Aerssen." Between the date of the foregoing general charter, March 27, 1614, and the date of the next document which we are about to 56 quote, October 11, 1614, a company of merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn sent five ships, namely, the Little Fox (Jan de With, skipper), the Tiger (Adriaen Block, skipper), the Fortune (Hen- rick Corstiaenssen or Christiaenssen, skipper), the Nightingale (Thys Volckertssen, skipper) and the Fortune (Cornelis Jacobs- sen May, skipper), to explore New Netherland. The proof that these voyages were made between March 27, 1614, and October 11, 1614, lies in the charter which was granted on the latter date to the owners of the above-named ships and which is quoted here- after. The charter of October 11 says that it is granted to the owners of these ships in pursuance of the general charter of March, which promised such a special charter to " whosoever should thereafter discover," etc. — " thereafter " meaning after March 27. On October 11, 1614, with reports of their discoveries and a " figurative map " explanatory thereof, the deputies of the United Company of Merchants appeared before the Assembly of the States General and applied for a monopoly of trade in those parts in accordance with the general charter of March 27. (Docs. Kel. Col. Hist. S. "N. Y. I, 10-11.) Whereupon the monopoly was granted in the following extremely important document : " The States General of the United Netherlands to all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting. Whereas Gerrit Jacobz Witssen, antient Burgomaster of the City Amsterdam, Jonas Witssen, Simon Morrissen, owners of the Ship named the Little Fox whereof Jan de With has been skipper; Hans Hongers, Paulus Pelgrom, Lambrecht van Tweenhuyzen, owners of the two ships named the Tiger and the Fortune, whereof Aedriaen Block and Henrick Corstiaenssen* were Skippers ; Arnolt van Lybergen, * Hendrick Corstiaenssen above-mentioned and Hendrick Christiaenssen pre- viously mentioned are one and the same person. Mr. A. J. F. van Laer, New- York State Archivist, who is an authority on Dutch names as well as other Dutch subjects, says that Corstiaen (also written Cors and Karstiaen) is but another form for Christiaen. With reference to Cornelis Hendrickssen, who is mentioned on page 62 following and who is sometimes confused with Hendrick Christiaenssen, Mr. van Laer says that Corstiaen is not the equivalent of Cornelis, as is sometimes supposed. " Cornelis Hendrickssen of Monnickendam was another man. He was left in charge of the ship Restless when Block returned in the ship of Hendrick Christiaenssen, apparently after the death of the latter at the hands of the savage Orson. Muilkerk suggests that Cornelis Hendrickssen was a son of Hendrick Christiaenssen. While this is not impos- sible, it seems unlikely to me, as Christiaenssen was from Cleves and Hen- drickssen from Monnickendam." 57 Wessel Schenck, Hans Claessen and Berent Sweertssen, owners of the Ship named the Nightingale, whereof Thys Volckertssen was Skipper, Merchants of the aforesaid City Amstelredam, and Pieter Clementssen Brouwer, Jan Clementssen Kies, and Cor- nelis Volckertssen, Merchants of the City of Hoorn, owners of the Ship named the Fortuyn, whereof Cornelis Jacobssen May was Skipper, all now associated in one Company, have respectfully represented to us, that they, the petitioners, after great expenses and damages by loss of ships and other dangers, had, during the present year, discovered and found with the above named five ships, certain New Lands situate in America, between New France and Virginia, the Sea coasts whereof lie between forty and forty-five degrees of Latitude, and now called New Nether- land : And whereas We did, in the month of March last, for the promotion and increase of Commerce, cause to be published a certain General Consent and Charter setting forth, that whoso- ever should thereafter discover new havens, lands, places or pas- sages, might frequent, or cause to be frequented, for four voyages, su~h newly discovered and found places, passages, havens, or lands, to the exclusion of all others from visiting or frequenting the same from the United Netherlands, until the said first dis- coverers and finders shall, themselves, have completed the said four Voyages, or caused the same to be done within the time pre- scribejd for that purpose, under the penalties expressed in the said Octroy &c. they request that we would accord to them due Act of the aforesaid Octroy in the usual form : " Which being considered, We, therefore, in Our Assembly having heard the pertinent Report of the Petitioners, relative to the discoveries and finding of the said new Countries between the above named limits and degrees, and also of their adventures, have consented and granted, and by these presents do consent and grant, to the said Petitioners now united into one Company, that they shall be privileged exclusively to frequent or cause to be visited, the above newly discovered lands, situate in America be- tween New France and Virginia, whereof the Sea coasts lie be- tween the fortieth and forty fifth degrees of Latitude, now named New Netherland, as can be seen by a Figurative Map hereunto annexed, and that for four Voyages within the term of three Years, commencing the first of January, Sixteen hundred and fifteen next ensuing, or sooner, without it being permitted to any other person from the United Netherlands, to sail to, navigate or frequent the said newly discovered lands, havens or places, either directly or indirectly, within the said three Years, on pain of Confiscation of the vessel and Cargo wherewith infraction hereof shall be attempted, and a fine of Fifty thousand Netherland 58 ducats for the benefit of said discoverers or finders; provided, nevertheless, that by these presents We do not intend to prejudice or diminish any of our former grants or Charters ; And it is also Our intention, that if any disputes or differences arise from these Our Concessions, they shall be decided by Ourselves. " We therefore expressly command all Governors, Justices, Of- ficers, Magistrates and inhabitants of the aforesaid United Coun- tries, that they allow the said Company peaceably and quietly to enjoy the whole benefit of this Our grant and consent, ceasing all contradictions and obstacles to the contrary. For such we have found to appertain to the public service. Given under Our Seal, paraph and signature of our Secretary at the Hague the xi th of October 1614." Building of the First Ship in 1614 The reference to loss of ships " in the foregoing charter is a reminder of the burning of Adriaen Block's vessel, the Tiger, in 1614 and the building of the Onrust (Restless) to take its place. As many writers have stated that the Tiger was burned and the Onrust was built in 1613, it is particularly to be noted that the Tiger was still in existence in 1614. The charter granted October 11, 1614, mentions by name five ships, including "two ships named the Tiger and the Fortune, whereof Aedriaen Block and Henrick Corstiaenssen were skippers " and says that the owners " had, during the present year, discovered and found with the above-named five ships, certain new lands," etc. Concerning the building of the Onrust in 1614 to take the place of the Tiger, De Laet gives the following evidence : " We have before stated how the country there abounds in timber suitable for ship-building; it is sought by our people for that purpose who have built there several sloops and tolerable yachts. And particularly- Captain Adriaen Block, when his ship was accidentally burned in the year 1614, constructed there a< yacht with a keel thirty-eight feet long, forty-four and a half feet from stem to stern, and eleven and a half feet wide. In this vessel he sailed through Hellegat* into the great bayf and ex- plored all the places thereabout; and continued therewith as far as Cape Cod, whence he came home in the ship of Hendrick Christiaensz, leaving the yacht on that coast for further trading," (ISTarr. ISTew Neth. p. 50.) * The East Riv*r. t Long Island Sound. 59 As it has been stated by several modern writers that the Tiger was burned in 1G13 and that the Onrust was built on Manhattan Island, it is particularly to be noted that the date above quoted is 1614. The only pretext which w 7 e can find for assuming 1613 as the date of the building of the Eestless is the statement in the petition of Witsen and others on August 18, 1616, quoted in full on pp. 61-62 following, to the effect that they had employed " dur- ing the space of three years " the small yacht called the Restless which was " built in the country there." If " three years " meant literally thirty-six months prior to the date of the petition, it would place the building of the Onrust in August, 1613, but in view of the fact that the Tiger was afloat in 1614 and De Laet's explicit statement that the Onrust was built in 1614, we must construe " three years " to be a general term meaning 1614, 1615 and 1616, and thus refer the building of the Onrust to 1614. For the claim that the Onrust was built on Manhattan Island there is no documentary basis. De Laet, in the passage previously quoted, says it was built " there." As all the preceding part of the chapter containing this passage is devoted to a description of the Hudson River region, " there " may mean anywhere in the Hudson or neighboring waters. Mr. Paltsits, who has pursued this phase of the subject with particular care, writes as follows: " Working wholly from the original sources of documents and contemporary printed works, I claim that Block's Tiger was burned up the Hudson in the vicinity of modern Albany and that the Restless was built there." The Onrust became a famous vessel and was the means of con- tributing greatly to our geographical knowledge. While Chris- tiaenssen was occupied in the Hudson River, three different ex- plorers were making explorations along different parts of the coast which had an important bearing on the geographical knowledge and cartography of the period — Block from East River to Cape Cod, Smith from Cape Cod northward, and May from Montauk Point to Delaware Bay. De Laet, as quoted on page 58 preceding, speaks of the building of the Onrust in 1614 and Block's voyage through Hellegat (the East River) and the great bay (Long Tsland Sound) as far as no Cape Cod. The implication of the text is that the voyage was made in 1614; and this is borne out by De Laet's description of the Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts coast. (Narr. New Neth. 39-43.) First we will quote from De Laet to show from whom he got his information concerning those regions, and then we will quote him to show the year. " Hellegat," says De Laet, " as named by our people, is another river, according to the description of Captain Adriaen Block, that flowed from the great bay " (Long Island Sound) " into the great river'' (the Hudson). (Narr. New Neth. 44.) Speaking of the islands in the western end of Long Island Sound, he says: " There are a number of islands, so that Captain Adriaen Block gave the name Archipelagus to the group." (Ibid. 44.) Of Narragansett Bay he says : " Captain Adriaen Block calls the people who in- habit the west side of this bay Nahicans." (Ibid. 42.) The "river or bay of Nassau," (Buzzard's Bay) says De Laet, " is very large and wide, and, according to the description of Captain Block, is full two leagues in width." (Ibid. 41.) Referring to Pye Bay, somewhere on the Massachusetts coast in the vicinity of latitude 42° 30', and thought by some to be Salem harbor, De Laet says : " The distance from thence to the longitude of the Lizard, according to the observations and reckoning of Captain Adriaen Block, is 690 leagues or thereabout." (Ibid. 39.) Seeing now from whom De Laet derived his information of the coasts above referred to, we are prepared to go back to a reference to the Fresh or Connecticut River which appears in the midst of those already quoted, and which gives us the year. " The natives there," says De Laet, " plant maize and in the year 1614 they had a village resembling a fort for protection against the attacks of their enemies." (Ibid. 43.) The late General James Grant Wilson, in his Memorial History of New York, referring to Brodhead's Memoir in the New York Historical Society's Collection, second series, II, 358, says of Block: "He does not seem to have ever re-visited the regions which he so industriously explored. He entered the service of the i Great Northern Company,' the Holland (provincial) branch of 6J which was chartered in 1614, and which was erected upon a na- tional basis in 1622. In December, 1624, he was promoted to the command of an entire fleet of whaling ships; but history makes no further mention of him." The Figurative Maps of 1614 The discoveries by Christiaenssen and Block resulted in two remarkable maps or charts, which contain the first detailed infor- mation concerning the geography of New Xetherland. These two maps are reproduced in volume 1 of " Documents Eelating to the Colonial History of the State of New York." One, which we will distinguish as map " A," has a vertical length of 41 inches between borders and a horizontal width of 14% inches. The original was found in the Royal Archives at the Hague by Brodhead in 1841 with no mark or memorandum by which its date could be ascertained. It covers the area from north of the beginning of the Hudson River to south of Delaware Bay, and includes the Hudson, Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. It appears to embody the results of the explorations of Chris- tiaenssen and his men in the country adjacent to the Hudson River in 1614 while his associate Block was exploring Long Island Sound. On the copy of this map, Mr. Brodhead wrote that it may be the one referred to in the octroy of the States, dated October 11, 1614, or it may have been presented by Captain Hendrickssen when he made his written report in August, 1616. The other map, which we will call " B," has a vertical length of 25 inches between borders and a horizontal width of 17 inches. It represents the coast and country from Virginia to the St. Law- rence River, but with the greatest detail between the 40th and 45th parallels of latitude, called " Men Nederlandt." This map was found by Mr. Brodhead in the Royal Archives in the Hague in 1841, attached to the following petition which was read to the States General on August 18, 1616 (Docs. Rel. Col. Hist. S. K Y. I, 13) : " To the High and Mighty Lords, the Lords States General &c. Respectfully represent Gerrit Jacob Witsen Burgomaster at Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen, Lambrecht van Tweenhuyzen, Paulus 62 Pelgrom cum sociis, Directors of New Netherland, extending from 40 to 45 degrees, situate in America between New France and Virginia, that they have, at great and excessive expense, dis- covered and found a certain country, bay and three rivers situate in the Latitude of from 38 to 40 degrees, (as is more fully to be seen by the Figurative Map hereunto annexed) in a small Yacht of about eight Lasts burthen, called the Restless, whereof Cornells Hendricksz 11 of Munnickendam is Skipper — Which little yacht they, the Petitioners, caused to be built in the country there, and employed the aforesaid Cornelia Hendricksz 11 in the aforesaid Countries during the space of three years, in the above mentioned little Yacht, looking for new countries, havens, bays and rivers. And Whereas Your High and Mighty Lordships did in March, 1614, publish by Placard, that whosoever should discover any new countries, bays or rivers, the said finders and discoverers should enjoy for their discovery, the grants to trade and traffic exclus- ively for four Voyages to the aforesaid countries, on condition of making a Report thereof to Your High Mightinesses; Therefore your Petitioners turn to Your High Mightinesses, respectfully praying and requesting that You, High and Mighty Lords, may be pleased to hear the aforesaid Cornells Hendrickxzen's Report, and to examine the aforesaid Map and Discovery, and to grant the Petitioners accordingly Charter of the exclusive trade to the aforesaid Countries, for the term of four years, according to the accompanying Placard (of the 27 th March 1614.) Which doing etc. (Endorsed) Petition of Gerrit Jacob Witsen, Burgomaster at Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen, Lambrecht van Tween- huyzen, Paulus Pelgrom cum sociis, Directors of New Netherland, etc. 1616." It is not apparent why these petitioners should apply in 1616 for an exclusive trading charter for four years, while they were still enjoying with others this monopoly under the charter of October 11, 1614, running for three years from January 1, 1615 ; unless it was with a view to trading in another part of New Netherland on the basis of Cornells Hendrickssen's later report. But this does not concern us so much as the " Figurative Map hereunto annexed," namely, the one we have distinguished as map " B." 63 Although attached to a petition dated 1616, the map itself seems to be attributable to 1614. The strongest indication of the date of this map is the fact that it does not contain any evidence of geographical knowledge acquired after 1614. From the Hudson River westward it is substantially based on map "A" with which it appears to be con- temporaneous. The note at the head of the Hudson River to the effect that " as well as one can understand from the words and signs of the Mohawks the French come with sloops as high up as to their country to trade with them " is such as would be put on the first map drawn after the information was obtained, and we know that Christiaenssen explored the river in 1614. Opposite the site of Albany is the name " Fort van jSTassou " (an old spell- ing of Nassau), with the dimensions of the fort (see page 65 fol- lowing), and De Laet, in describing the fort, the width of the ditch and the number of guns mounted (page 64 following) says the fort was built in 1614. The dimensions of the fort are details which might naturally be put on the first map presented after it was built but which would not be likely to be repeated on later maps, and again suggest that the map is one of 1614. The details of the coast from the mouth of the Hudson to Cape Cod we know were learned by Block in 1614. De Laet says that Block sailed from Cape Cod for home. (Page 58 preceding.) The names from " de Vlackehoeck " (Cape Cod) northward to " de Gebrokenhoeck " are therefore taken from May's voyage in 1611-12, and are mentioned in May's journal. This portion of the map shows no effect of Captain Smith's map, made in 1614 and published in 1616. The source of the seven names from " Graef Willem's Bay " to " Reiger's Eylant " does not appear — they are not mentioned in May's journal — but the Maine coast had been coursed frequently before 1614. No simi- larity can be detected between the delineation of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence in map " B " and their delineation in Cham- plain's maps of 1612 and 1613, but it is certain that map " B " contributes nothing about that region that was not known in 1614. These facts conduce strongly to the conclusion that the map was drawn in 1614, or if drawn later, represents the draftsman's geo- graphical knowledge as of the year 1614. 64 Mr. JBrodhead, who discovered the maps came to the same con- clusion, and some years later, in his History of the State of New- York, wrote: " I think, however, that it was actually prepared two years before, from data furnished by Block immediately after his re- turn to Holland, and that it was exhibited to their High Mighti- nesses for the first time on the 11th of October, 1614. The Charter granted on that day to the Directors of New Netherland expressly refers to a ' Figurative map prepared by them ' which described the seacoasts between the 40th and 45th degrees of latitude. This the parchment map clearly does. It moreover defines New Netherland as lying between New France and Vir- ginia according to the description in the Charter. The map was probably presented a second time on the 18th of August, 1616, when the Directors of New Netherland exhibited their memorial for a further Charter, to which it was attached." The Building of Fort Nassau in 1614 The white men had so often abused the confidence of the red men in their first contact that while the Dutch were cultivating friendly relations with the Indians it was not safe for the Europeans to dwell on shore without protection. Christiaenssen therefore built at the site of Albany a rude fort within which those of his crew who camped ashore might rest in tolerable security or even spend the winter. De Laet, describing the various reaches of the Hudson River as far north as Albany, refers to the building of Fort Nassau (later Orange) at that point on Castle Island as follows: " The fort was built here in the year 1614 upon an island on the west side of the river where a nation of savages dwells called the Mackwaes. . . . The fort was built in the form of a re- doubt, surrounded by a moat eighteen feet wide ; it was mounted with two pieces of cannon and eleven pedereros, and the garrison consisted of ten or twelve men. Henderick Christiaenz, first commanded here and in his absence Jaques Elckens, on behalf of the company which in 1614 received authority from their High Mightinesses the States General. This fort was constantly occu- pied for three years after which it partly went into decay." (Narr. New Neth. 47.) On the " Carte Figurative " which we have distinguished as "A" on page 61 preceding, the single word " Nassou " appears 65 at the site of Albany. On the " Carte Figurative " B, the site is marked with a description in Dutch -which, translated, says : " Fort of Nassou. Within the walls is 58 feet wide. The moat is 18 feet wide. The house inside the fort is 36 feet long and 26 wide." The erection of Fort Nassau in 1614, before October 11, is indicated in a " Report and advice on the condition of New Netherland, drawn up from documents and papers placed by com- mission of the Assembly of XIX, dated 15th Deer. 1644, in the hands of the General Board of Accounts to examine the same, to make a digest thereof, and to advise the Assembly how the decay there can be prevented, population increased, agriculture advanced, and that country wholly improved for the Company's benefits." The report begins as follows : " New Netherland extending from the South river, lying in 34 1 /o degrees, to Cape Malabar in the latitude of 41% degrees, was first frequented by the inhabitants of this country in the year 1598, and especially by those of the Greenland Company, but without making any fixed settlements, only as a shelter in the winter. For which purpose they erected on the North and South river there two little forts against the incursions of the Indians. A charter was afterwards on the 11th October, 1614, granted by their High Mightinesses," etc. (Docs. Rel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. vol. 1, P ri49.) While the foregoing authorities seem to indicate the building of Fort Nassau in 1614, it must be admitted that there is also evidence to indicate either that the year was 1615 or that in 1615 a better fort was built ; for De Laet, already quoted as giving the date 1614, also says in his edition of 1625 : " Whereupon, in the year 1615, a redoubt or small fort was erected up the said river and occupied by a small garrison, of which we shall hereafter speak. Our countrymen have continued to make voyages thither each year." And in a memoir concerning English encroachments on New Netherland, dated January 2, 1656, it is stated: " In the year 1610 some merchants again sent a ship thither from this country and obtained afterwards from the High and 66 Mighty Lords States General a grant to resort and trade exclus- ively to those parts, to which end they likewise, in the year 1615, built on the North river, about the Manhattans, a redoubt or little fort, wherein was left a small garrison, some people usually re- maining there to carrv on trade with the natives or Indians." (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. I, 564.) That the words " about the Manhattans " do not necessarily mean on Manhattan Island may be inferred from the fact that the expression " at the Manhattans " was frequently used to designate the Hudson River region generally; and also from the fact that there is no indication of a fort on Manhattan Island on the two Cartes Figurative. The preponderance of evidence concerning the date of the erec- tion of the first fort appears to be in favor of 1614; for De Laet, when he mentions 1614, gives particulars concerning the width of the moat and the number of cannon, showing that when he wrote "1614" he was guided by precise information; and the " Report and advice on the condition of New Netherland " ex- pressly says that the forts on the Hudson and Delaware Rivers were erected before the granting of the charter of October 11, 1614. This also harmonizes with the facts which go to show that the Carte Figurative " B " was drawn in 1614. Fort Nassau was occupied for three years. Wassenaer, speak- ing of the floods pouring into the upper Hudson, refers to " great quantities of water running to the river, overflowing the adjoining country, which was the cause that Fort Nassau frequently lay under water and was abandoned." Significance of the Year 1614 From the foregoing we see that the year 1614 is a red-letter year in the history of the State of New York ; for it was the year in which the duly chartered commerce of the Hudson River began ; the year in which the first ship was built in these waters ; the year in which the first fort was built by the Dutch traders in the Hud- son valley, and the year which produced the first definite carto- graphical knowledge of New Netherland. The significance of this year is well expressed by Professor Henry Phelps Johnston, Professor of History in the College of the City of New York, in 67 a letter to the writer of this paper, dated January 6, 1913, from which we quote the following : " That New York City — New Amsterdam — was first settled in 1626 is sufficiently well established, and a tercentenary celebration for this place will be appropriate in 1926. The same for Albany in 1924, the dates being given as correct or approximate. . . . " New York, however, need not wait until 1926. We may ac- cept a year for commemoration which the Dutch themselves of that day regarded as the year of substantial beginnings, a year well known to readers and authors of New York histories — the year 1614. It is only necessary to be reminded that in that year the Dutch, following up Hudson's discovery, established a right- ful claim, in their view, to a definite portion of this coast ; that in the same year to this region they gave the name ' New Nether- land ' ; that they presented a chart of it, laying out quite clearly the shore lines in this vicinity, distinguishing Manhattan for the first time as an island, identifying it by name and indicating such points as Sandy Hook and Hellgate by name ; also showing that they had exploited New York harbor, the East River, the Brooklyn front and Long Island, as well as the adjoining New Jersey and Connecticut lines, and the islands in the bay, all evi- dently for the purposes of navigation and further enterprise ; that in this year for the first time the States General of Holland officially recognized New Netherland as a new region for Hol- landers to explore and utilize ; that in this year thirteen merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn, known by name, owning five ships, which with their skippers are also named, were combined as the ' United New Netherland Company ' and received from the States General a charter granting them exclusive trade with their new American possessions for three years; that the trade they opened was followed up by them and others continuously; and that in that same year the first authorized proposal was made for the organization of the later ' West India Company ' which there- after controlled New Netherland and which grew and enlarged upon the experience and foundation of its predecessor and the pioneers of the time. On four subsequent occasions, in disputes with England and English settlers, this charter of 1614 was of- ficially cited as the earliest document on which the Dutch based their claims to this region. "As an undisputed date, 1614 may be said to mark ' the coming of the Dutch,' the year they came to stay in their own accustomed way, whether as exploiters, traders or occupiers. Within the next six years they accomplished one important result — a great one 68 in the history of this City; they had established the bay and mouth of the Hudson as a new trading destination in the new world. Wherever their ships might continue on their voyages, whether up the Hudson to Fort Orange, or up and down the coast, ' the mouth of the Mauritius,' Manhattan Harbor, was clearly a trader's center or resort, a kind of ' port of entry,' a known anchorage where shippers could overhaul and repair and whence they could hunt out points of exchange among the natives. " We have here the beginnings of commercial New York — the opening up of its bays and waters with their unrivalled ad- vantages to a mercantile marine. From 1614 to the present time, for three hundred years, the trade of this region, whether in Dutch, English or American hands, has been continuous — as con- tinuous in its infant years, from 1614 to 1626, as any distant trade of that period could be — as continuous as that with Vir- ginia or Brazil, or, on the part of England and Holland, with their then recently established trading posts in the East Indies. " The source of the wealth and greatness of New York is her harbor. The earliest utilization is a primary fact in her history. The settlement of the City itself was a second step. The harbor was the making of the City. The year 1626 should be associated with the year 1614 and the years intervening. We must celebrate 1626, but let us also in some appropriate way celebrate 1614 in 1914. It might be made conspicuously a commercial and indus- trial commemoration." Commerce Continued Until Permanent Settlement is Effected We have previously stated that Block does not appear to have returned to New Netherland after his explorations in 1614; but the petition of August, 1616, before quoted, indicates that Chris- tiaenssen used the Onrust in 1615 and 1616 in these parts, and Wassenaer makes the following reference to more voyages : " This aforesaid Hendrick Christiaenz, after Adriaen Block had dissolved partnership with him, made ten voyages thither, under a grant from the Lords States who granted him that privi- lege for the first opening up of the place. On the expiration of that privilege, this country was granted to the West India Com- pany, to draw their profits thence." The formation of the Dutch West India Company, in 1621, was a project which had been considered for the past seven years. On July 18, 1614, the provinces of Holland and West Friesland adopted a memorial to the General Assembly of the States suggest- 69 iiig " the formation of a general Company for the promotion of Commerce, Navigation and Interest of the Country, to carry on Trade on some Coasts of Africa and America." (Docs. Rel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. I, 6.) On August 25, 1614, the States General " Resolved, That the business of forming a General West India Company shall be undertaken to-morrow morning." (Ibid. p. 7.) And on September 2, 1614, they k ' Resolved, That the affair of the West India Company shall be continued this afternoon." (Ibid. p. 7.) The project had in view trade to the West Indies, Africa and Guinea; but it encountered so many objections from the East India Company, that its consummation was deferred, and it was not until June 3, 1621, that the company was actually chartered. Thus the continuity of the commerce was maintained until a permanent settlement was effected in 1624. What Constitutes " Settlement? " This brings us to the consideration of the question, what con- stitutes the " settlement " of a country. If we are to take a broad and sweeping view of the whole history of the region from Hud- son's voyage to the present time, we might, perhaps, regard the settlement to have begun with the first coming of the Europeans, whether they actually remained continuously or whether they came and departed annually for a period of time. The best au- thorities, however, seem to regard such a use of the word " settle- ment " as loose and inexact. The Century Dictionary, reflecting the best use of the word by historians, clearly conveys the idea of permanence or continuance in its definitions of " settlement." The first definition of the verb " settle," in its transitive use, is : " To place in a fixed or permanent position or condition ; con- firm ; establish, as for residence or business." More specifically, it says : " To plant with inhabitants; colonize; people, as, the Puritans settled New England." Used intransitively we have these definitions ; " To become set or fixed ; assume a continuing, abiding or last- ing position, form, or condition," etc. " To establish a residence, take up permanent habitation or abode." 70 In all such uses as to " settle " a question, or " settle " a date, or " settle " an account or a case in court, runs the idea of a per- manent and continuing condition. Visiting and trading in a country cannot be regarded as the settlement of that country unless there is permanent occupation. The annual visits of French fishermen to the banks of Newfound- land and their temporary stays in harbors of refuge did not con- stitute the settlement of Newfoundland. The series of voyages under the auspices of Raleigh, beginning in 1584, the short-lived Ralph Lane colony landed on Roanoke Island in 1585, the evanes- cent John White colony landed there in 1587, and the other visits during the next few years to the region within the limits of ancient Virginia did not constitute the settlement of Virginia. The settle- ment of Virginia, by common consent, was the permanent settle- ment of Jamestown in 1607, and was recognized as such in the Jamestown Tercentenary celebration in 1907. New England was the objective point of repeated voyages and a few attempts at settlement before 1620 — in 1602 Gosnold visited Cape Cod and built some huts, it is said, on Cuttyhunk; Weymouth visited Cape Cod and Maine in 1605; in 1607 the transitory Popham colony landed on the Maine coast ; Jan Cornelisz. May spent the winter of 1611-12 on the New England coast, down as far as Cape Cod; in 1614 Capt. John Smith visited New England and on his map even gave the name of Plymouth to the neighborhood afterward settled by the Pilgrims — but these did not constitute the settle- ment of New England as the word settlement is understood. " The Puritans settled New England " — to repeat the quotation from the Century Dictionary, when the Pilgrims planted at Ply- mouth in 1620 ; and unless it can be demonstrated that there was the beginning of continuous occupation of New Netherland, at Manhattan Island or at the site of Albany or elsewhere, during the years we have been considering, it cannot be said that New Nether- land was yet " settled." Upon this point Mr. James A. Holden, State Historian, has expressed to the present writer his views upon the interpretation of the word " settlement " which may be summarized as follows : " If this means the date when the first white man came to Man- hattan Island after the discovery of the river by Hudson, 1610 71 would be nearer- the mark. If it means the first settlement by fur-traders and barterers, 1014 would be the proper date. But if the word ' settlement ' is to be understood as I should take it, as something permanent and not temporary, then we must con- sider that the proper date is 1624. It was in 1626 that the Island of Manhattan was formally deeded to the Dutch by the Indians." That no colony had been planted in New Netherland up to 1622 is apparent from a letter written under date of the Hague, Feb- ruary 5, 1621, 0. S. (1622 X. S.), by Sir Dudley Carleton, Eng- lish ambassador to the Netherlands, to the Lords of the Council, in reply to an inquiry from the latter, dated December 15, 1621. Sir Dudley wrote that he had made diligent inquiry of the Prince of Orange, some of the States and various merchants, and could not learn that the Hollanders had planted any colony in New Netherland. All he could learn was that the Hollanders had been trading there for several years and had several factors there resi- dent among the savages trading with them ; and that . there was a ship at Amsterdam bound for those parts: " I cannot learne of anie Colonic eyther already planted there by these people or so much as intended ; and I have this further reason to believe there is none, because within these few months divers inhabitants of this country to a considerable number of familyes have been suters unto me to procure them a place of habitation amongst his Majesties subjects in those parts." (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. Ill, 7.) Sir Dudley apparently refers to the fact that in February, 1622, fifty or sixty families of Walloons and French residing in the Netherlands applied to the King of Great Britain for permission to settle in Virginia and with the consent of the Virginia com- pany the petition was granted on certain conditions. (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. Ill, 9-10.) Permanent Settlement of Fort Orange in 1624 A decade of commerce prepared the way for the planting of the first permanent colony in New Netherland at the site of Albany in 1624, and another on Manhattan Island in 1626. This culmination of events was so important, and so much attention will be attracted to it by the Commercial Tercentenary anniver- sary, that it is desirable to review the evidence concerning these dates. 72 It may be taken as a general principle of historical interpreta- tion, that, other things being equal, the reliability of testimony varies proportionately with the distance of the testimony from the event in point of time. We shall cite, therefore, in support of the date 1624 for the settlement of Fort Orange, Wassenaer's " Historisch Verhael " printed in that year. Fully to understand the significance of Wassenaer's dates, it should be explained that the Verhael was printed in semi-annual parts. Thus, in the original Dutch, the months of October, 1623, to March, 1624, both inclusive, are covered by 156 pages, with a preface dated June 1, 1624. The months of April, 1625, to Sep- tember, 1624, inclusive, are covered with 157 pages with a preface dated December 1, 1624. The general chronology of the text is indicated by the years printed in the top margin. Wassenaer, in the part prefaced under date of December 1, 1624, says of a privateer named the Maeckereel: " The yacht Maeckereel sailed out last year on the 16th of June and arrived yonder on the 12th of December. It was in- deed somewhat late, but it wasted time in the savage islands, to catch a fish, and did not catch it, so ran the luck. The worthy Daniel van Krieckebeeck, for brevity called Beeck, was super- cargo on it and so did his duty that he was thanked." (Narr. New Neth. 76.) In the foregoing quotation, " out " means from Netherlands ; " yonder " means to New Netherland ; " to catch a fish " means to catch a Spanish prize; and " last year" clearly means 1623, for Wassenaer certainly could not have known on December 1, 1624, of the arrival of a ship in the Hudson Eiver on December 12, 1624. It being clear that the Maeckereel arrived in December, 1623, we now proceed to show how that proves the date of the arrival of the first Colony in 1624. Wassenaer, in the same part prefaced December 1, 1624 — embodying information received after the publication of his pre- vious part, prefaced June 1, 1624 — says: " The West India Company being chartered to navigate these rivers, did not neglect to do so, but equipped in the spring a ves- sel of 130 lasts called the Nieu Nederlandt, whereof Cornells 73 Jacobz May of Hoorn was skipper, with a company of 30 families, mostly Walloons, to plant a Colony there. They sailed in the beginning of March, and directing their course by the Canary Islands steered towards the Wild Coast and gained the west wind which luckily took them in the beginning of May into the river called first Rio de Montagnes, now the River Mauritius* lying in 40% degrees. He found a Frenchman lying in the mouth of the river who would erect the arms of the King of France there ; but the Hollanders would not permit it, forbidding it by commis- sion from the Lords States General and the Directors of the West India Company, and in order not to be frustrated therein, and with the assistance of those of the yacht Maeckereel which had lain above, they caused a yacht of two guns to be manned and convoyed the Frenchman out of the river. . . . This being done, the ship sailed up to the Maykans, 44 leagues, and they built and completed a fort named Orange with four bastions, on an island by them called Castle Island. They forthwith put the spade to the ground and began to plant, and before the Maeckereel sailed, the grain was nearly as high as a man, so that they are bravely advanced." As the Maeckereel arrived in the Hudson River in December, 1623, and was found here by the New Netherland which arrived in May, it is manifest that the New Netherland arrived in May, 1624, not May, 1623. The date 1624 is confirmed by the fact that the date " 1624 " is printed in the margin of the original Dutch edition of Wassenaer, and the further fact that under the head- ing of February, 1624, Wassenaer foretold the sending of the colony, saying that the Dutch were " intending now to plant a colony among the Maikans." There is a great deal more evidence to confirm the date of 1624, but lack of space forbids its elaboration. Weise, author of the History of Albany, and other painstaking historians, accept that date. One of the ablest brief monographs on this subject, written by a man of exceptional ability and opportunity, is a paper read before the New York Society of the Founders and Patriots of America, March 18, 1897, by George Rogers Howell of Albany, State Archivist, entitled " The Date of the Settlement of the Colony of New York " and printed by Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons of Albany. He says of Wassenaer's * This was the Hudson River, called Mauritius after Prince Maurice of Orange. 74 account : " This narrative as to date is so explicit as to fix the date of the first settlement beyond all question." De Laet in 1630, the Journal of New Netherland written in 1641-46 (Docs. Eel. Col. Hist. S. N. Y. I, 181), Van der Donck in 1649 (ibid. 283) and others have referred to the building of forts, etc., in 1623 or " since 1623," but one statement has evi- dently been the child of its predecessor, and all based either on the preparations made in 1623 for the colony despatched in 1624, or on the specific date of the sailing of the Maeckereel in 1623. But by the canon of historical interpretation previously laid down, these statements by later writers cannot compare in acceptability with the testimony of Wassenaer, who, being equal or superior to the others in learning, wrote contemporaneously with the event described and with explicitness. Jameson's foot- note " of 1623 " on page 75 of his Narratives of New Netherland is not warranted by the text to which he refers. Mr. Paltsits, in a communication to the present writer, speak- ing of the date of the first settlement of New Netherlands says: " The matter is greatly involved and has required the finest kind of historical criticism to run down the errors to their sources, in which even interpolations have been discovered in a later verbiage derived from De Laet. " The first permanent colony arrived in New Netherland in 1624 (not 1623, as so many writers give the year). This was the colony that founded Fort Orange (Albany)." Commercial Prosperity in 1624-1625 The colony at Fort Orange flourished from the start, and when the New Netherland returned to Holland the same year, its news was recorded by Wassenaer as follows: "As regards the prosperity of New Netherland, we learn by the arrival of the ship whereof Jan May of Hoorn was skipper, that everything there was in good condition. The colony began to advance bravely and to live in friendship with the natives. The fur or other trade remains in the West India Company, others being forbidden to trade there. . . . This voyage 500 otter skins and 1500 beavers and a few other skins were brought thither, which were sold in four parcels for twenty-eight thou- sand some hundred guilders." Elsewhere Wassenaer gives the date of sale as December 20, 75 1624. De Laet in his Jaerlyck Verhael records the joint cargoes of two ships returning this year as having contained 4,000 beavers and 700 otters which sold for 25,000 to 27,000 guilders. De Laet's Jaerlyck Verhael also records the receipt of 5,295 beavers and 463 otters from New Netherland in 1625 which sold for 35,825 guilders. Wassenaer says that " Cornells May of Hoorn was the first Director there in 1624; Willem van Hulst was the second in the year 1625." (Narr. New Neth. 84.) The Colony Reinforced in 1625 The ships returning to the Netherlands from the Hudson car- ried profitable cargoes and encouraging reports of the prosperity of the Colony at Fort Orange and in April, 1625, four ships were despatched from Holland with forty-five persons, and 103 head of live stock for the new plantation. Wassenaer described the expedition as follows: " Though good care was taken by the Directors of the West India Company in the spring to provide everything for the colony in Virginia, by us called New Netherland, on the river Mauritius near the Maykans, an extraordinary shipment was sent thither to strengthen it with what was needful as follows : a As the country is well adapted for agriculture and the raising of everything that is produced here, the aforesaid gentlemen re- solved to take advantage of the circumstance and to provide the place with many necessaries ; through the worthy Pieter Evertsen Hulst, who undertook to ship thither, at his risk, whatever was asked of him, to wit, 103 head of live stock — stallions, mares, bulls and cows — for breeding and multiplying, besides all the hogs and sheep that they thought expedient to send thither; and to distribute these in two ships of 140 lasts, in such a manner that they should be well foddered and attended to. Each animal has its own stall, with a floor of three feet of sand, arranged as comfortably as any stall here. Each animal has its respective servant who attends to it and knows what he is to get if he de- livers it there alive. All suitable forage is there, such as oats, hay and straw, and what else is useful. " Country people have also joined the expeditions, who take with them all furniture proper for the dairy; all sorts of seed, ploughs, and agricultural implements are also present, so that nothing is wanting. 76 " What is most remarkable is, that nobody in the two ships can discover where the water is stowed for these cattle. In order to use the same plan another time if needful, I shall here add it: The above-named manager caused a deck to be constructed in the ship. Beneath this were stowed in each ship three hundred tuns of fresh water which was pumped up and thus distributed among the cattle. On this deck lay the ballast, and thereupon stood the horses and bulls, and thus there was nothing wanting. " He added the third ship as an extra, so that, should the voy- age, which is ordinarily made in six weeks, continue longer, nothing should be wanting and he should be able to fulfil his contract. ... In company with these goes a fast sailing yacht at the risk of the Directors. " In the aforesaid vessels also go six completely equipped fami- lies, with some single persons, so that 45 new comers are taken out to remain there." (Narr. New Neth. 79-80.) In July, 1625, a small ship arrived in Holland laden with furs and bringing favorable news of the crops and good order in New Netherland ; but the vessels with the cattle had not reached the Hudson when the ship left. In November, 1625, however, a ship returned to Holland, laden with peltries, and reported the safe arrival of the cattle ships. " Only two animals died on the passage. This gave great satisfaction to the freighter who had managed the transaction," says Wassenaer, who gives further particulars as follows : " These cattle were, on their arrival, first landed on Nut Island,* three miles up the river, where they remained a day or two. There being no means of pasturing them there, they were shipped in sloops and boats to the Manhattes right opposite the said island. Being put out to pasture here, they throve well but afterward full twenty in all died. The opinion is that they had eaten something bad from uncultivated soil. But they went in the middle of September to meadow grass as good and as long as could be desired." No specific mention is made concerning the disposition of families who came over in 1625, but as Wassenaer says they were for the colony " near the Maykans," that is, the Mohawks, it is to be presumed that they all went up to Fort Orange. Whether the cattle were taken up the river after September, or whether they were left on Manhattan during the winter is not * Governor's Island in New York Harbor. 77 stated. Mr. Paltsits' view is expressed in the following passage in a communication to the writer: " The second set of colonists arrived in 1625, and on the way to Fort Orange stopped a few days at Noten (now Governor's) Island to pasture the cattle, but the cattle were on that island only a day or two when they were removed to Manhattan to pas- ture and the colonists went off to Fort Orange. The cattle were on Manhattan only a few w r eeks ; some died from poisonous herbs and the remainder were taken up the Hudson to Fort Orange." Permanent Settlement of New Amsterdam in 1626 Upon the facade of the New Municipal Building in New York City is the inscription " New Amsterdam MDCXXVI," the date of the permanent settlement of Manhattan Island and the crown- ing event of the series which we have been discussing. On December 19, 1625, Peter Minuit and a fully equipped colonial government set sail from Amsterdam on the ship Sea Mew, commanded by Skipper Adriaen Joris. Being detained by ice, the Sea Mew did not clear the Texel till January 9, 1626. Evidently the ship took a roundabout course, for the voyage, usually made in seven or eight weeks, according to Wassenaer (Narr. New Neth. 68) occupied four months, and Minuit landed May 4, 1626. (Ibid. 87.) What happened between May 4 and September 23 is best told in the words of an extraordinary document which may be called the Certificate of Birth of New York City, namely, the Schagen Letter. On November 4, 1626, the ship Arms of Amsterdam arrived at Amsterdam with the news of the purchase of Man- hattan Island and the planting of New Amsterdam. The very next day Peter Schagen addressed to " Messieurs the States Gen- eral, in The Hague," the following letter (facsimile in Wilson's Memorial History of New York) : " High Mighty Sirs : " Here arrived yesterday the ship the Arms of Amsterdam which sailed from New Netherland out of the Mauritius Eiver on September 23. They report that our people there are of good courage and live peaceably. The women, also, have borne chil- dren there. They have bought the Island Manhattes from the 78 wild men for the value of sixty guilders,* is 11,000 morgen in extent. They sowed all their grain in the middle of May and harvested it in the middle of August. Thereof being samples of summer grain such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, small beans and flax. The cargo of the aforesaid ship is: 7246 beaver skins, 178% otter skins, 675 otter skins, 48 mink skins, 36 wild-cat (lynx) skins, 33 minks, 34 rat skins. Many logs of oak and nutwood. " In Amsterdam, November 5, Ao. 1626. " Your High Might's Obedient " P. ScHAGEN." De Laet's Jaerlyck Verhael states that 7,258 beavers and 857 otters, etc., received in 1626, sold for 45,050 guilders. Wassenaer, under November, 1626, gives further particulars as follows: " The Colony is now established on the Manhates, where a fort has been staked out by Master Kryn Frederycks, an engineer. It is planned to be of large dimensions. . . . The counting house there is kept in a stone building thatched with reed; the other houses are of the bark of trees. Each has his own house. The Director and Koopman live together. There are 30 ordinary houses on the east side of the river, which runs nearly north and south. The Honorable Peter Minuit is Director there at present ; Jan Lempou Schout; Sebastiaen Jansz. Crol and Jan Huych comforters of the sick, who, whilst awaiting a clergyman, reads to the commonalty there on Sundays texts of Scripture and the commentaries. Francois Molemaecker is busy building a horse- mill, over which shall be constructed a spacious room sufficient to accommodate a large congregation, and then a tower is to be erected where the bells brought from Porto Kico will be hung. " The council there administers justice in criminal matters as far as imposing fines but not as far as corporal punishment. Should it happen that anyone deserves that, he must be sent to Holland with his sentence. . . . Everyone there who fills no pub- lic office is busy about his own affairs. Men work there as in Hol- land. One trades upwards, southwards and northwards; another builds houses; the third farms. Each farmer has his farmstead on the land purchased by the Company, which also owns the cows ; but the milk remains to the profit of the farmer. He sells it to those of the people who receive their wages for work every week. * Sixty guilders usually stated to be equivalent to $24. In 1903, the New York Title Guarantee and Trust Company reckoned that if the Indians had invested that $24 at 6% compound interest, it would have amounted in 1903 to $310,470,286.80. 79 The houses of the Hollanders now stand outside the fort, but when that is completed, they will all repair within so as to gar- rison it and be secure from sudden attack. . . . When the fort staked out at the Manhates is completed, it is to be named Amsterdam." That it was designed to make the Manhattan settlement the chief center of New Netherland and to draw in the colonists from the Delaware River on the south and Fort Orange on the north is shown by Wassenaer under the same date of November, 1626. Of Fort Nassau on the Delaware River he says : " Those of the South river will abandon their fort and come hither. . . . The fort at the South river is already vacated, in order to strengthen the Colony. Trading there is carried on only in yachts, in order to avoid expense." Of Fort Orange he says: "At Fort Orange, the most northerly point at which the Hol- landers traded, no more than fifteen or sixteen men will remain. The remainder will come down. . . ." Here Wassenaer interjects an account of a war in 1626 be- tween the Mohawks and Mohicans, in which Commander Kriecke- beeck went with the Mohicans. Krieckebeeck and three of his men were killed. Wassenaer continues : " There being no commander, Pieter Barentsen assumed com- mand of Fort Orange by order of Director Minuit. There were eight families there and ten or twelve seamen in the Company's service. The families were to leave there this year, — the fort to remain garrisoned by sixteen men without women — in order to strengthen with people the colony near the Manhates who are becoming more accustomed to the strangers." Concerning the authentic date of the settlement of Manhattan Island, the late Gen. James Grant Wilson, author of the Memorial History of New York, wrote to the present writer shortly before his death: "The first settlement of the City was not in 1613 but thirteen years later, in 1626." Mr. Robert H. Kelby, Librarian of the venerable New York Historical Society, writes: "All the documents published and the standard histories of New York show conclusively that Man- 80 hattan Island was first permanently settled by the Dutch in 1626. The visits of transient traders prior to 1626 should not be regarded as the first permanent settlement of the island." We have previously quoted Prof. Henry P. Johnston, Pro- fessor of History of the College of the City of New York, and Mr. James A. Holden, State Historian, to the same effect. Mr. Victor Hugo Paltsits, formerly State Historian, concurs with these emphatic words: " No settlements whatever were made on Manhattan Island by Europeans until its occupation by Pieter Minuit and his colony in May, 1626. The tercentenary of the occupation of Manhattan by the white race should be held in May, 1926, or its purchase from the Indians by the Dutch West India Company may be celebrated in the summer of 1926. . . . These data and con- clusions* are based wholly upon an intimate study of the original source materials — the only primary sources known for the early history of the City and the beginning of the Dutch settlements in New Netherland. I may add that I have been engaged almost daily for over a year and a half in studying tha original ma- terials related to the history of Manhattan Island during the Dutch Regime." Having brought this outline history down to the founding of New Amsterdam, we may let the narrative rest. It only remains to say — again on the authority of our learned and helpful friend Wassenaer — that two years later, the European popula- tion of Manhattan Island was " 270 souls, men, women, and children and on the authority of a letter by Isaac de Kasieres, that the native population of " the old Manhattans " was " about 200 to 300 strong, women and men, under different chiefs whom they call Sackimas." From this little beginning has grown a City of nearly 6,000,000 population — almost equal to that of the Netherlands! to-day — of which it may be said, in the words of the great Hebrew prophet Isaiah: " She is a Mart of Nations. . . . The crowning City, who.^ merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth/' * Referring to all quotations from him in the present paper. fThe population of the Netherlands January 1, 1912, was 5,900,000. The population of New York City, January 1, 1914 (World Almanac) was 5,583,871, and including its Westchester and New Jersey suburbs 7,383,871.