Province of New-York—Origin of the Settlement at Albany—Singular
Possession held by the Patron—Account of his Tenants.
IT is well known that the province of New-York, anciently called
Manahattos by the Indians, was originally settled by a Dutch colony,
which came from Holland, I think, in the time of Charles the Second.
Finding the country to their liking, they were followed by others more
wealthy and better informed. Some of the early emigrants also appear to
have been people respectable both from their family and character. Of
these the principal were the Cuylers, the Schuylers, the Rensselaers,
the Delanceys, the Cortlandts, the Tenbroeks, and the Beekmans, who have
all of them been since distinguished in the late civil wars, either as
persecuted loyalists or triumphant patriots. I do not precisely
recollect the motives assigned for the voluntary exile of persons who
were evidently in circumstances that might admit of their living in
comfort at home, but am apt to think that the early settlers were those
who adhered to the interest of the Stadtholder’s family, a party which,
during the minority of King William, was almost persecuted by the high
republicans. Those who came over at a later period probably belong to
the party which opposed the Stadtholder, and which was then in its turn
depressed. These persons afterwards distinguished themselves by an
aversion, almost amounting to antipathy, to the British army, and indeed
to all the British colonists. Their notions were mean and contracted;
their manners blunt and austere; and their habits sordid and
parsimonious. As the settlement began to extend they retired, and formed
new establishments, afterwards called Fishkill, Esopus, &c.
To the Schuylers, Cuylers, Delanceys, Cortlandts, and a few others, this
description did by no means apply. They carried about them the tokens of
former affluence and respectability, such as family plate, portraits of
their ancestors executed in a superior style, and great numbers of
original paintings, some of which were much admired by acknowledged
judges. Of these the subjects were generally taken from sacred history.
I do not recollect the exact time, but think it was during the last
years of Charles the Second, that a settlement we then possessed at
Surinam was exchanged for the extensive (indeed at that time boundless)
province of Manahattos, which, in compliment to the then heir apparent,
was called New-York. Of the part of that country then explored, the most
fertile and beautiful was situated far inland, on the banks of the
Hudson River. This copious and majestic stream is navigable one hundred
and seventy miles from its mouth for vessels of sixty or seventy tons
burthen. Near the head of it, as a kind of barrier against the natives,
and a central resort for traders, the foundation was laid of a town
called Oranienburgh, and afterwards by the British, Albany.
After the necessary precaution of erecting a small stockaded fort for
security, a church was built in the centre of the intended town, which
served in different respects as a kind of landmark. A gentleman of the
name of Rensselaer was considered as in a manner lord paramount of this
city. A pre-eminence which his successor still enjoys, both with regard
to the town and the lands adjacent. The original proprietor having
obtained from the high and mighty states a grant of lands, which,
beginning at the church, extended twelve miles in every direction,
forming a manor twenty-four Dutch miles in length, the same in breadth,
including lands not only of the best quality of any in the province, but
the most happily situated both for the purposes of commerce and
agriculture. This great proprietor was looked up to as much as
republicans in a new country could be supposed to look up to any one. He
was called the Patroon, a designation tantamount to lord of the manor.
Yet, in the distribution of these lands, the sturdy Belgian spirit of
independence set limits to the power and profits of this lord of the
forests, as he might then be called. None of these lands were either
sold or alienated. The more wealthy settlers, as the Schuylers, Cuylers,
&c. took very extensive leases of the fertile plains along the river,
with boundless liberty of woods and pasturage, to the westward. The
terms were, that the lease should hold while water runs and grass grows,
and the landlord to receive the tenth sheaf of every kind of grain the
ground produces. Thus ever accommodating the rent to the fertility of
the soil, and changes of the seasons, you may suppose the tenants did
not greatly fear a landlord, who could neither remove them, nor increase
their rents. Thus, without the pride of property, they had all the
independence of proprietors. They were like German princes, who, after
furnishing their contingent to the Emperor, might make war on him when
they chose. Besides the profits (yearly augmenting) which the patroon
drew from his ample possessions, he held in his own hands an extensive
and fruitful demesne. Yet preserving in a great measure the simple and
frugal habits of his ancestors, his wealth was not an object of envy,
nor a source of corruption to his fellow-citizens. To the northward of
these bounds, and at the southern extremity also, the Schuylers and
Cuylers held lands of their own. But the only other great landholders I
remember, holding their land by those original tenures, were Philips and
Cortlandt; their lands lay also on the Hudson River, half way down to
New-York, and were denominated Philips’ and Cortlandt’s manors. At the
time of the first settling of the country the Indians were numerous and
powerful all along the river; but they consisted of wandering families,
who, though they affixed some sort of local boundaries for
distinguishing the hunting grounds of each tribe, could not be said to
inhabit any place. The cool and crafty Dutch governors being unable to
cope with them in arms, purchased from them the most valuable tracts for
some petty consideration. They affected great friendship for them; and
while conscious of their own weakness, were careful not to provoke
hostilities; and silently and insensibly established themselves to the
west.
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