Great Spirit would be offended if no one tasted the beverage. Lifting the brandy to his lips, he bade his comrades a solemn farewell, and swallowed it. In a short time he began to stagger, and then fell unconscious to the ground. His friends imagined that he was dead; but before the conference was over the supposed dead man came to life. He declared that it was the "strongest water" he had ever tasted, and that it had made him happier than he had ever been before in his life. Soon, every red man present had tried the new and strange drink. Hudson meant the gift in no unkindly spirit, but to the natives it was simply poison. For them alcohol had a fatal fascination. Since then liquor has probably destroyed more Indians than war and disease combined. The Indians were afraid of the white man's gun; it would have been far better for them if they had been still more afraid of the white man's drink.

61. The Dutch take possession of New Netherland; Jealousy of England and France. - The Dutch, finding from Hudson's report that valuable furs could be bought of the Indians at enormous profit, soon sent over ships, and opened trade with the natives. In 1614 the Republic of the United Netherlands or Holland, took possession of the country on the Hudson River, and gave it the name of New Netherland. That very year Captain John Smith, formerly of Jamestown, Virginia, explored the Atlantic coast east and northeast of the Hudson. He made a map of it, calling the country New England.

Both the English and the French now had good reason for turning jealous eyes on New Netherland, for that province was like a wedge. It separated the colony of Virginia from the unsettled region of New England, and the point of it at the north entered that territory which Champlain claimed as part of New France. A number of years later (1622) the Dutch made that wedge more dangerous still by building a fort on the Upper Hudson. This stronghold they called Fort Orange, in honor of the Prince of Orange, president of the Republic of Holland; but, better than

MANHATTAN ISLAND.

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any fort, they made a treaty with the Iroquois Indians which was sacredly kept by those savages. Many years afterward the English got possession of Fort Orange, and gave it the name of Albany, from the Duke of York and Albany.

occupies that land, which is valued and taxed at a good deal more than a thousand millions of dollars.

1 Minuit (Min'u-it).

2

"AMSTERDAM, Nov. 5, 1626.

"HIGH AND MIGHTY LORDS: Yesterday, arrived here the ship 'The Arms of Amsterdam,' which sailed from New Netherland . . . on the 23d of Sept. They report that our people are in good heart and live in peace there.

...

...

They have

The new settlement consisted of a fort, a stone warehouse, and a cluster of log huts. Such was the beginning of the metropolis of America. The Dutch called the place by its Indian name of Manhattan, but later gave it the name of New Amsterdam.

63. The Patroons. — As Holland was anxious to establish a sufficient population in the province to hold it against all intruders, it granted a charter intended to favor emigration. That charter gave to any member of the Dutch West India Company who should take or send out fifty settlers within four years, the right to a large amount of land on any navigable river or bay in New Netherland. Such a proprietor was to receive the honorary title of “ Patroon.” If he located his estate on one bank only of a river, he was to have sixteen miles of water-front; if on both banks, he was to have eight miles on each. Inland, he might extend his settlement as far as he could occupy the soil to advantage. cases he was to purchase the land of the Indians.

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In all

1

The patroon who began a settlement agreed to do three things: 1. To pay the expenses of the emigrant's passage from Holland. 2. To stock a farm for him on his estate with horses, cattle, and all necessary agricultural implements, at a small rent, and free from taxes. 3. To provide a schoolmaster and a minister of the Gospel.

In return, the emigrant bound himself in many ways, of which the three following were the principal ones: He agreed, 1. To cultivate the patroon's land for ten years, and not to leave it without permission. 2. To give the patroon the first opportunity to buy any grain or other produce he might have to sell.

3. To

purchased the Island of Manhattan from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders [$24.00]...

“Herewith, High and Mighty Lords, be commended to the mercy of the Almighty.

"Your High Mightinesses' obedient,

1 Patroon: patron, or protector.

"P. SCHAGEN,"

PETER STUYVESANT.

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bring all disputes about property and rights to the patroon's court, of which the patroon himself was judge.1

A patroon named Van Rensselaer2 took an estate in the vicinity of Albany, of 700,000 acres. It occupied both banks of the Hudson, extending twenty-four miles along the river, and reaching twice that distance back. Additions were made to the territory, so that eventually it embraced the three present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and Columbia. The total area of that vast domain was considerably greater than that of the State of Rhode Island. Such a proprietor was richer than many a German prince. He was at once owner, ruler, and judge. He not only had a population of white settlers who were his servants and laborers, but he had moreover the promise from the Dutch West India Company of as many negro slaves as they could "conveniently provide " him. There was no one to contradict the patroon's will. He was clothed with authority which even Governor Minuit might envy; for he was actually monarch of all he surveyed.

64. Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Netherland. In 1647 Peter Stuyvesant came out to New Amsterdam as fourth and last governor of the province. He was a veteran who had given a leg to the cause of his country, and, having replaced it with a substantial wooden one, bound with silver, was familiarly known as "Old Silverleg." Governor Stuyvesant was hot-tempered and headstrong; but he was honest, fearless, and determined to have order in the colony at any cost. In a picture of New Amsterdam at that period two of the

1 In cases involving more than $20.00 value the settler might appeal from the patroon's court to the Company. Other points were these: 1. The settler agreed to bring his grain to the patroon's mill, and pay for the grinding. 2. He could not fish or hunt on the patroon's estate. 3. He was not to weave any cloth, but buy that imported from Holland. 4. If he died without leaving a will, all of his property fell to the patroon.

2 Van Rensselaer (Van Ren'sel-ler). Other noted families dating from that period are the Schuylers and Van Cortlandts.

8 Stuyvesant (Sti've-sant).

most prominent objects are the gallows and the whipping-postboth occupied.

The inhabitants complained of taxes, and wished to have a word to say how the money should be raised and spent. .The governor resisted such presumption, but finally had to yield, and permit a council of “Nine Men" to be elected to assist him.

Later, when the people asked for still more liberty in this direction, he emphatically refused; for, said he, if citizens elect their own officers, "the thief will vote for a thief, and the smuggler for a smuggler."

In regard to freedom of worship he was equally decided. A minister who ventured to preach doctrines different from those of the Dutch Protestant Church was fined $500, and those who went