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LIVES

OF THE

GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

COLO

CHAPTER I.

DUTCH RULE-1609 TO 1638.

OLONIZATION has in all ages been influenced by rivercourses, safe bays and harbors, mountain passes, and favorable routes of travel. Settlement in America strictly conformed to this law. The Pilgrims gathered about Boston harbor and the mouth of Charles River. The Dutch sought that great navigable stream, the Hudson, and that magnificent harbor at its mouth, where the combined navies of the world may ride in safety. The Cavaliers, who followed Smith to Virginia, chose the Chesapeake and the James. Pennsylvania, though an inland State, formed no exception to this rule. The only navigable stream within its borders which communicates directly with the ocean, attracted the eye of the early explorer, and on its course were the first feeble attempts at colonization, and the eventual settlements which marked the foundation of a state, the beginnings of empire.

In 1614, five years after the discovery of the Island and Bay of New York by Hendrick Hudson, three Europeans, wandering up the Mohawk Valley from the fort near Albany, where a feeble foothold had been gained, wended

their way southward across the dividing ridge to the headwaters of the Delaware, and followed down its course. As they moved on they soon entered the territory of what is now the State of Pennsylvania, and then for the first time its soil was pressed by the foot of the white man.

Hudson, a navigator formerly in the service of the English, but who had entered the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed on the 4th of April, 1609, in the Half Moon, an insignificant craft, in search of a western passage to the Indies. Foiled in his attempt to find a way at the north of the continent, he turned southward, and, watching carefully the coast as he went, on the 28th of August, 1609, discovered, in latitude thirty-nine degrees and five minutes north, a great bay, which he cautiously entered. To this bay the name of Delaware was subsequently given, in honor of Lord De-la-War, of the Virginia colony, who visited it a year afterwards and laid claim to its discovery. Hudson moved slowly up the bay, examining the coast on either shore, now Delaware and New Jersey, but soon returned, and proceeding northward, on the 4th of September discovered the Bay of New York, and the great river of the north which bears his name.

The right of the Dutch to the Delaware and the 'lands adjacent thereto was founded on this visit of Hudson to its waters, constituting priority of discovery, which was recog nized by European nations as a sufficient guarantee for its possession. Though having at various periods different designations, it was at first chiefly known as the South River, in distinction from the Hudson, which was then known as the North River, these being the only great rivers in the territory claimed by the Dutch. It was called by the Indians Pautaxat, Mariskitton, and Makerish-kisken; by the Dutch, Zuyt or South, Nassau, Prince Hendrick, and Charles; by the Swedes, New Swedeland Stream; and by the English, the Delaware. The bay was also known as New Port Mey and Godyn's Bay.

Hudson, having returned to Holland and reported his dis

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coveries, the States General, on the 27th of March, 1614, granted a general charter, securing the privilege of trade during four voyages, to parties accepting its provisions, in any of its possessions in the New World. The merchants of the cities of Amsterdam and Hoorn, accordingly, fitted out five vessels to sail under this charter. One of these, the Fortune, belonging to the city of Hoorn, commanded by Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, upon its arrival on the American coast, at once proceeded south, its commander examining and mapping the shore as he went, until he reached Delaware Bay. To the two capes at its mouth he gave two of his own names, calling the one on the north Mey, and that on the south Cornelis. To a cape still further to the south he gave the name Hindlopen, after a town in Friesland. Another of these vessels, commanded by Adrian Block, was, unfortunately, burned upon its arrival at the mouth of the Hudson, and to repair the loss, Block immediately set about building another, the new craft when completed being of sixteen tons burden, and called the Unrest, the first vessel ever built in American waters. After exchanging their cargoes for furs and skins, and gathering many articles curious and interesting, the vessels all returned to Holland, except the American-built one, which was left under the command of Cornelis Hendrickson.

On hearing the report of the voyagers, the States General passed an edict, dated October 14th, 1614, granting exclusive privileges of trade in its New World possessions, to extend to four voyages through a period of three years from January 1st, 1615, to the Company of Merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn, by which the first expedition had been dispatched. In this edict the Dutch possessions in the New World were designated NEW NETHERLANDS.

In the meantime Hendrickson, who had been left behind, proceeded to explore the sea-coast, and bay and river of Delaware, where, to his surprise, he met the three white-men who had wandered off from the fort on the upper Hudson, and were making their way, from the head-waters of the Delaware

through the dense forests that fringed its banks, towards the coast. On the 19th of August, 1616, a report of Hendrickson's discoveries was read to the States General, which was in these words: "He hath discovered for his aforesaid masters and directors certain lands, a bay, and three rivers, situate between thirty-eight and forty degrees, and did there trade with the inhabitants, said trade consisting of sables, furs, robes, and other skins. He hath found the said country full of trees, to wit: oaks, hickory, and pines, which trees were, in some places, covered with vines. He hath seen, in said country, bucks and does, turkeys and partridges. He hath found the climate of said country very temperate, judging it to be as temperate as this country, Holland. He also traded for, and bought from the inhabitants, the Minquas, three persons, being people belonging to this Company, which three persons were employed in the service of the Mohawks and Machicans, giving for them kettles, beads, and merchandise."

Hendrickson demanded the exclusive privilege of trade in the territory which he had explored, and which he claimed to have discovered, in compliance with the provisions of the general edict; but his demand was denied. In January, 1618, the general edict expired by its own limitation. The establishment of a great West India Company, in imitation of the East India Company, was now in contemplation, and all applications for exclusive privileges were held in abeyance by the States General, though several private expeditions were undertaken.

On the 3d of June, 1621, the Dutch West India Company was incorporated, to continue for a period of twenty-four years, with a pledge of renewal of its charter at the expiration of that time. Subscription to its stock was open to all nations. It was divided into five branches, that in Amsterdam representing four-ninths of the whole, and its government was intrusted to a board of nineteen, of whom eighteen represented the five branches, and one was named by the States General. It was privileged to trade and plant colonies in Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good

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