passing the site of Philadelphia; and he reported to the States-General that here he encountered three of his countrymen, whom he was obliged to ransom from the custody of the Minqua Indians. These men proved to be a part of the garrison that had been left at Fort Nassau. They had been captured by one of the tribes living on the Mohawk River, and made to act as their servants. They had escaped, however, and had been sheltered and aided on their way through the country by a tribe of Ogehages, who were hostile to the Mohawks. Reaching the banks of the Delaware, they had followed its course down, and had finally come into the country of the Minquas, from whose rather mild bondage they were easily ransomed by a few trinkets. Here certainly was a chapter of adventure worthy of record. Hence, Hendricksen relates this circumstance in the written report to the States-General, and in a note upon his map he also mentions it, and shows besides that valuable information regarding the relative positions of various Indian tribes was furnished to him by these three wanderers.' But whatever interest Captain Hendricksen may have awakened in the mind of their High Mightinesses, they saw nothing in either his verbal or written report to warrant them in giving him a charter in fulfilment of their promise of March, 1614. The regions he brought to their notice were too closely contiguous to those reported on by Block, and they were of a character so similar in the way of trade, that it seemed unjust to the "United Netherland Company," erected on the basis of the charter of October, 1614, to grant another patent of monopoly to a rival association.

When the three years of exclusive trade to New Netherland conceded to the above Company had expired, they found it difficult to obtain renewal of the privilege, for other merchants now claimed the right of sending ships thither. One company of adventurers, headed by a Henry Eelkens, no doubt a relative of Jacob Eelkens, obtained permission to send a ship, the "Schilt," or Shield, from their port of Amsterdam to the North River, as the Mauritius was now designated, in October, 1618. But still the aim of each band of merchants who wished to send their ships to the fur regions of America was to enjoy such a privilege to the exclusion of others; and the competition to secure the monopoly became eager. In August, 1620, it appears that Captain Cornelius Jacobsen May has been abroad again, visiting the scenes he had explored six or seven years before. In the ship called the Glad Tidings he had sailed up the James River in Virginia. may then, too, have entered Delaware Bay and given his name to the Cape that still bears it, although this was perhaps the result of his subsequent prominence in those parts. At any rate it was hardly

He

1 See the note on the map in Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: opposite page 11; also Hendricksen's "Report," Ib., 1: 13, 14. 2 De Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt, 3:13: 93.

honest for him to claim that he had discovered new countries, within the meaning of the General Charter, and to seek to obtain a charter for an exclusive trade of four years. His mistake, or worse, was therefore promptly exposed by Henry Eelkens and his partners, and the issuing of a charter to May's principals opposed. The States-General made an attempt to reconcile the parties at issue, but as, after a delay of nearly two months, "that could not be done, it is, after consideration, resolved and concluded that the requested Charter shall be refused." 1 This was on November 6, 1620. Indeed the disputes between these rival firms only served to commend the superior advantages that attached to one consolidated national association, the scheme which had begun to be agitated in 1604, and had been discussed again in 1614. The consummation of the West India Company was therefore only hastened by this quarrel. In November, 1618, after Barneveld's arrest, the subject of its formation had been introduced into the States-General, and it was now awaiting action on the part of the several Provincial Legislatures. Even at the time of this discussion between Eelkens and Captain May, the reports from the Provinces were slowly coming in, and on June 3, 1621, the charter establishing this great Company was finally signed and sealed.

An incident now occurred to which attaches a special interest for two important reasons: because, in the first place, it gives evidence that the idea of colonization, for which there was made such slight provision, as has been seen, in the charter granted to the West India Company, was distinctly entertained and its importance intelligently appreciated by many men in Holland whose attention had been directed to this country; and, in the second place, because it connects the Hudson River and Manhattan Island in an intimate and pleasant way with a neighboring Colony, the advent of whose members to the shores of America is looked upon as the beginning of national history for the Republic of the United States.

2

On the 20th of February, 1620, a unique document was addressed to Maurice, Prince of Orange, the Stadholder of the Republic of the Netherlands. It was a petition from the Directors of the "New Netherland Company." The Company was still in existence and actively engaged in the trade to the Hudson, although its charter had expired three years after January 1, 1615. The trade was now open to all, and, as they remark in this paper, other associations and private merchants were also despatching vessels thither. There is not in their petition, however, the slightest trace of a desire to revive their monopoly. Another and, we may say, a nobler project was in their minds. Beyond a mere trading-post, they had conceived the idea of making the banks of the Hudson the seat of a regular colony.

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: 24, 25.

2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: 22, 23.

But it was not easy for Holland to colonize uninhabited districts in foreign lands. Much as has been said by some writers about the overcrowded condition of the United Provinces, we must accept such statements with caution. There was ample space for all her citizens within the territories of the Seven Provinces. At any rate they were not a people inclined to leave the Fatherland permanently. Restlessly diligent in pursuing wealth or glory to the remotest parts of the earth, her sons ever cherished the expectation of spending their last days amid the early associations of home. So it will be seen that the first attempts at colonization in connection with New Netherland depended for the supply of colonists upon refugees who had found an asylum in free Holland from religious persecution in their own lands. These having been once transplanted, and not yet rooted to the soil, it seemed easier for them to make another change.

Now it "happened," the petitioners informed the Prince, and through him the Government, that there was "residing in Leyden a certain English preacher, versed in the Dutch language, who is well inclined to proceed thither to live," i. e., to New Netherland. What is more, he was the representative in this proposal of no less than four hundred families who would "accompany him thither both out of this country and England." Here was thus a golden opportunity for forming a colony. A thousand people at their doors, indebted to Holland for a home and freedom of worship during a dozen years, besides several hundred fellow-sufferers in England ready to join their brethren in this change of abode, and likely to be equally grateful for the favor accorded. Eagerly do the Directors of the New Netherland Company recommend this project to the Prince, requesting that they be aided in transporting these families. They had themselves, as we learn elsewhere, made generous proposals to these English exiles; New England historians call them "large offers," and well they may, for the Directors promised to give them free passage to America, and to furnish every family with cattle. But there was danger to be apprehended on the high seas

1 See Brodhead's (N. Y., 1: 124) references to Bradford in Alexander Young's "Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers," p. 421; and to Winslow, p. 385.

as well as after they should have landed on the distant shores, from the vindictive persecution of their own King; and hence the Directors begged the Dutch Government to take the enterprise under its protection, and to allow two armed ships to accompany the expedition.'

There is no mistaking who were this preacher and the people for whom he was authorized to speak. John Robinson and his flock had been living in Leyden since 1609, and thus from the first must have heard of the exploit of Henry Hudson which had been for years agitating commercial Holland. Their views of church government differing hopelessly from those prevalent in England and indorsed as well as enforced by the Crown, and king and prelates insisting on conformity thereto or banishment, or worse, the nonconformist band at Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, led by their pastor, chose banishment, and being assured of tolerance and protection in Holland, the asylum for the oppressed of all creeds or despotisms, they entered upon their first "pilgrimage," and took up their abode in Amsterdam in 1608. But in 1609 Robinson's flock found it more advantageous to remove to Leyden. Here they spent many peaceful years, though, being in a country just recuperating from a sanguinary war, they were compelled in common with her own citizens to maintain a severe struggle for existence, and they sometimes speak of "hard" times. Yet they must have been reasonably prosperous, for in 1611 they bought a large piece of ground with a spacious house upon it, for over three thousand dollars, which would represent about four times that amount in our day. The site of this house is now indicated by a stone in the front wall of the building occupying it at present, which records that "on this spot lived, taught and died John Robinson, 1611-1625." Believing in the independency of the congregation as distinguished from the Presbyterian system of both the Dutch and the Scotch churches, and objecting to worship in buildings that had once been devoted to Roman Catholic services, Robinson himself could form no ecclesiastical affiliations with the church of the land, as the pastors of Scotch refugees had done; nor could his

3

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 1: 23.

2 It stands immediately opposite the St. Peter's church, in which the remains of Robinson were deposited after his death in 1625. July 24, 1891, there was unveiled a large bronze tablet placed in the front outside wall of the church, at the instance of the National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States of America." (For illustration, see p. 149.) The unveiling was an impressive ceremony, witnessed by a large assemblage, including about sixty Americans. The whole town was en fête and the ancient church decorated with flags and flowers. As it was unveiled the American, Dutch, and English flags

2

people be granted a sanctuary, as

were unfurled and saluted, the band playing the Star Spangled Banner," "God Save the Queen,” and the tune "Plymouth Rock." The tablet having been formally delivered by the representative of the American Council to the city's keeping, the Burgomaster, Mr. De Laat de Kanter (presumably a descendant of the historian De Laet, who was a citizen of Leyden), accepted the trust with a few brief and appropriate words. The University, of which Robinson was made a member, was represented by Professor Kuenen, who also made an address in Dutch and English.

3 Wagenaar, "Amsterdamsche Geschiedenis," 4: 125-127.

had been assigned to the Scotch, since the Protestants throughout Holland were wisely using the abundant supply of such edifices built in Roman Catholic times, which it would have been mere wantonness to destroy or to leave vacant. The Pilgrims therefore met for public worship in the spacious house they had purchased, which was also set apart for their pastor's residence; while about the extensive garden smaller buildings were erected for the use of a number of the poorer families. And it is certainly worth noting that upon this very ground stands an almost similar institution, it being a home for indigent people belonging to the

French or Walloon congregation-that is, descendants of religious refugees from France and Belgium.

James &

But while enjoying perfect liberty to conduct their church government on the principles which they had adopted, and to exercise their worship in the place or manner that their consciences could approve, there were some considerations which made Robinson and his flock wish for different surroundings. In the recent discussions in New England in regard to erecting a monument at Delfshaven to commemorate the departure thence of the Pilgrim Fathers, those who oppose the scheme have charged that the Hollanders did not treat them handsomely. But we cannot discover this among the causes of their leaving. They were Englishmen, and the younger generation were fast becoming amalgamated with the foreign element around them. They were not far enough away from James I. to altogether escape his annoyances, for although the Dutch Government necessarily defied him. in harboring the refugees at all, it could not entirely break with the head of the only other great Protestant Power, and thus at times it was compelled to give the appearance at least of heeding the remonstrances of their King. Again, the Pilgrims could not much better bear the Presbyterian government of the Dutch Church than they could the English Episcopacy; yet their children were growing up where they constantly saw this form exemplified, and they would thus not only be reconciled to it but might become identified with it. The new free principles of church polity for which