CHAPTER XVI.

THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK.

Voyages of Henry Hudson-He is Employed by the Dutch-Discovery of the Hudson River-Early Dutch Voyages-Adrian Block-Fate of Hudson-The Dutch build a Fort on Manhattan Island-Settlement of New Amsterdam-The Province named New Netherlands-Fort Nassau-Peter Minuits Governor-The Dutch Settlement of Delaware-Wouter Van Twiller-Kieft Governor-His Unjust Treatment of the IndiansMassacre of the Indians at Hoboken-The Indian War-Stuyvesant Appointed Governor -Disputes with the English in Connecticut-The Swedes Settle Delaware-Stuyvesant Captures the Swedish Forts-Growth of New Amsterdam-Disputes between the People and Governor-Growing Spirit of Popular Liberty-The People Appeal to the States General-Capture of New Netherlands by the English-The Name of the Province changed to New York-Results of the English Conquest-Progress of New JerseyAndros Governor of New York-He Fails to Establish his Authority over Connecticut -New York allowed an Assembly-Discontents of the People-Leisler's RebellionExecution of Leisler and Milbourne-Fletcher Governor-His Attempt to obtain Command of the Connecticut Militia-Episcopacy Established in New York-The Freedom of the Press Sustained-New Jersey a Royal Province.

HEN the hope of finding a northwest passage to India began to die out, a company of "certain worshipful merchants" of London employed Henry Hudson, an Englishman and an experienced navigator, to go in search of a northeast passage to India, around the Arctic shores of Europe, between Lapland and Nova Zembla and frozen Spitzbergen. These worthy gentlemen were convinced that since the effort to find a northwest passage had failed, nothing remained but to search for a northeast passage, and they were sure that if human skill or energy could find it, Hudson would succeed in his mission. They were not mistaken in their man, for in two successive voyages he did all that mortal could do to penetrate the ice-fields beyond the North Cape, but without success. An impassable barrier of ice held him back, and he was forced to return to London to confess his failure. With unconquerable hope, he suggested new means of overcoming the difficulties; but while his employers praised his zeal and skill, they declined to go to further expense in an undertaking which promised so little, and the "bold Englishman, the expert pilot, and the famous navigator" found himself out of employment. Every effort to secure aid in England

failed him, and, thoroughly disheartened, he passed over to Holland, whither his fame had preceded him.

The Dutch, who were more enterprising and more hopeful than his own countrymen, lent a ready ear to his statement of his plans, and the Dutch East India Company at once employed him, and placed him in command of a yacht of ninety tons, called the "Half Moon," manned by a picked crew. On the 25th of March, 1609, Hudson set sail in this vessel from Amsterdam, and steered directly for the coast of Nova Zembla. He succeeded in reaching the meridian of Spitzbergen; but here the ice, the fogs, and the fierce tempests of the north drove him back, and turning to the westward, he sailed past the capes of Greenland, and on the 2d of July was on the banks of Newfoundland. He passed down the coast as far as Charleston harbor, vainly hoping to find the northwest passage, and then in despair turned to the northward, discovering Delaware bay on his voyage. On the 3d of September he arrived off a large bay to the north of the Delaware, and passing into it, dropped anchor "at two cables' length

from the shore," within Sandy Hook. Devoting some days to rest, and to the exploration of the bay, he passed through The Narrows on the 11th of September, and then the broad and beautiful "inner bay" burst upon him in

all its splendor, and from the deck of his ship he watched the swift current of the mighty river rolling from the north to the sea. He was ful! of hope now, and the next day continued his progress up the river, and at nightfall cast anchor at Yonkers. During the night the current of the river turned his ship around, placing her head down stream; and this fact, coupled with the assurances of the natives who came out to the "Half Moon" in their canoes, that the river came from far beyond the mountains, convinced him that the stream flowed from ocean to ocean, and that by sailing on he would at length reach India-the golden land of his dreams.

Thus encouraged, he pursued his way up the river, gazing with wondering delight upon its glorious scenery, and listening with gradually fading hope to the stories of the natives who flocked to the water to greet him. The stream narrowed, and the water grew fresh, and long before he anchored below Albany, Hudson had abandoned the belief that he was in the northwest passage. From the anchorage a boat's crew continued the voyage to the mouth of the Mohawk. Hudson was satisfied that he

had made a great discovery-one that was worth fully as much as finding the new route to India. He was in a region upon which the white man's eye had never rested before, and which offered the richest returns to commercial ventures. He hastened back to New York bay, took possession of the country in the name of Holland, and then set sail for Europe. He put into Dartmouth, in England, on his way back, where he told the story of his discovery. King James I. prevented his continuing his voyage, hoping to deprive the Dutch of its fruits; but Hudson took care to send his log-book and all the ship's papers over to Holland, and thus placed his employers in full possession of the knowledge he had gained. The English at length released the "Half Moon," and she continued her voyage to the Texel, but without her commander.

The discovery of Hudson was particularly acceptable to the Dutch, for the new country was rich in fur-bearing animals, and Russia offered a ready market for all the furs that could be sent there. The East India Company, therefore, refitted the "Half Moon" after her return to Holland, and despatched her to the region discovered by Hudson on a fur trading expedition, which was highly successful. Private persons also embarked in similar enterprises, and within two years a prosperous and important fur trade was established between Holland and the country along the Mauritius, as the great river discovered by Hudson had been named, in honor of the Stadtholder of Holland. No government took any notice of the trade for a while, and all persons were free to engage

in it.

Among the adventurers employed in this trade was one Adrian Block, noted as one of the boldest navigators of his time. He made a voyage to Manhattan island in 1614, then the site of a Dutch trading-post, and secured a cargo of skins, with which he was about to return to Holland, when a fire consumed both his vessel and her cargo, and obliged him to pass the winter with his crew on the island. They built them log huts on the site of the present Beaver street-the first houses erected on the island-and during the winter constructed a yacht of sixteen tons, which Block called the "Onrust "-the "Restless." In this yacht Block made several voyages of discovery, and explored the coasts of Long Island sound, and gave his name to the small island near the eastern end of the sound. He soon after went back to Europe.

In the meantime Hudson had not been permitted by the English king to take service again with the Dutch, and after apprising his employers in Holland of his discoveries, he was engaged by an English company to make further explorations in their behalf. He sailed to the north of his former route, reached the coast of Labrador, and passing through the

straits, entered the bay which bears his name. He spent the remainder of the season in exploring its coasts, and resolved to winter there, hoping to push his discoveries still farther northward in the spring. In the spring of 1611 he found it impossible to continue his voyage, as his provisions had begun to run low, and with tears turned his vessel's prow homeward. His men now broke out into mutiny, and seizing Hudson and his son and four others, who were sick, they placed them in the shallop and set them adrift. And so the great navigator, whose memory is perpetuated by one of the noblest of the rivers of America, and whose genius gave the region through which it flows to civilization, perished amid the northern seas. "The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name is his tomb and his monument."

In 1614 the Dutch built a fort on the lower end of Manhattan island, and in the next few years established forts or trading houses along the river as far as Fort Orange, on the site of Albany. These were merely trading-posts, no effort being yet made to occupy the country with a permanent colony. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was organized for the purpose of trading with America, and took possession of the country along the Hudson, intending to hold it merely as temporary occupants. The States General of Holland granted them the monopoly of trade from Cape May to Nova Scotia, and named the whole region New Netherland. The Dutch thus extended their claims into regions already claimed by the English and French, and prepared the way for future quarrels and complications.

The English, now awake to the importance of Hudson's discoveries, warned the Dutch government to refrain from making further settlements on "Hudson's river," as they called the Mauritius; but the latter, relying upon the justice of their claim, paid no attention to these warnings, and in the spring of 1623 the Dutch West India Company sent over thirty families of Walloons, or one hundred and ten persons in all, to found a permanent colony. These Walloons were Protestants from the frontier between France and Flanders, and had fled to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution in their own country. They were sound, healthy, vigorous, and pious people, and could be relied upon to make homes in the new world. The majority of them settled around the fort on the lower end of Manhattan island, and the colony was named New Amsterdam. The remainder established themselves on Long island, about where the Brooklyn navy yard now stands, and there Sarah de Rapelje, the first white child born in the province of New Netherlands, saw the light. Eighteen families ascended the river and settled around Fort Orange.

In the same year (1623) a party under command of Cornelis Jacobsen May, who gave his name to the southern cape of New Jersey, ascended the Delaware, then called the South river, and built Fort Nassau, on the east side of the river a few miles below the present city of Camden. This was done in order to establish the claim of the Dutch to this region. In 1626 the West India Company sent out to New Amsterdam the

He

first regular governor of the province, Peter Minuits by name. brought with him a koopman, or general commissary, who was also the secretary of the province, and a schout, or sheriff, to assist him in his government. The only laws prescribed for the colony were the instructions of the West India Company. The colonists, on their part, were to