That there was a Providence in their coming here is altogether probable. That the same Providence reached out and extended its ruling and benignant hand on the journey and after the arrival is certain.
“There is no doubt, a great over-ruling power in all human affairs, but our concern (the emigration) is with second causes, and it is to be believed that we often deceive ourselves when we attempt to recover general principles from which things remarkable in the acts of men have sprung.” “And if we conclude that these people had mistaken the path or duty, or had imposed upon themselves a severer burthen than God ever intended for them, there it still a heroism in their conduct which forbids us to regard them with indifference, nay rather, which will call forth the sympathy of every generous mind.”
There has been neither design nor desire, in what has been said, to reflect on the character of the Pilgrims, or to detract from the high fame and renown to which they are justly entitled. No one has more appreciation of their virtues or greater veneration for their memories than the writer. A train of thought only has been followed which led in a channel that seems to be altogether reasonable and intelligent. When a genealogist thought to please Napoleon by telling him that his descent could be traced from some ancient line of Gothic princes, he replied that he dated his patent of nobility from the battle of Monte Notte (his first victory.) The Pilgrims inherited their patent of nobility and derived their claim to immortality by the excellence of their example and the beauty and usefulness of their lives.
D. W. Manchester.
WERE THE DUTCH ON MANHATTAN ISLAND IN 1598?
It will admit of but very little dispute that Verrazano in 1524, and Gomez in 1525, anticipated Henry Hudson by several decades in the discovery of New York Bay and the Hudson River. There is also a claim for previous discovery however, put forward in behalf of the Dutch. One confident historian of the Metropolis starts out bravely and unhesitatingly with the assertion that the Dutch were here as early as 1598; but he gives no authorities from whence he had gathered this startling piece of information, yet before one has read thirty pages of such a well-known work as Dr. E. B. O’Callaghan’s, “History of New Netherland,” the source of the statement is plainly indicated, and fortunately, also the opportunity for a careful weighing of the testimony supporting it.
MANHATTAN ISLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Dr. O’Callaghan refers his readers to a Dutch document in the State Archives at Albany, discovered by Mr. Brodhead at the Hague, copied by him for his collection of documents and translated and published in that invaluable store-house of historical material, the “Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York,” vol. I, pp. 149, et seq. Here we read: “New Netherland ... was first frequented [explored] by the inhabitants of this country [Holland] in the year 1598, and especially by those of the Greenland Company, but without making any fixed settlements, only as a shelter [resort] in the winter. For which purpose they erected on the North [Hudson] and South [Delaware] Rivers there, two little forts against the incursions of the Indians. A charter was afterwards, on the 11th of October, 1614, granted by their High Mightinesses to trade exclusively to the newly discovered countries.”
Without discussing the nature or merits of this document itself just now, we will first weigh the value of its statement. The Hollanders who “frequented” Manhattan Island in 1598, were in the employ of a Dutch “Greenland Company.” Now it would seem to be of some importance for the establishment of the interesting fact under discussion, that there be brought forward some evidence of the existence of such an association as this Greenland Company. For certainly if no trace of its existence can be found, this would cast serious doubt upon the exploits of its servants in these waters.