Raleigh, the magnanimous patriot, was consigned, under an
unjust judgment, to lingering imprisonment in the Tower of
London, to be followed, after the lapse of fifteen years, by
a still more iniquitous execution. Yet returning justice has
fully vindicated Raleigh's fame. And nearly two centuries
after his death the State of North Carolina gratefully named
its capital after that extraordinary man, who united in
himself as many kinds of glory as were ever combined in any
individual."
CHAPTER III.—THE COMMENCEMENT OF COLONISATION.
The Puritans.—Memorial to the States-General.—Disagreement
of the English and the Dutch.—Colony on the
Delaware.—Purchase of Manhattan.—The First Settlement.—An
Indian Robbed and Murdered.—Description of the
Island.—Diplomatic Intercourse.—Testimony of De
Rassieres.—The Patroons.—The Disaster at Swaanendael.
In the year 1620 the Puritans founded their world-renowned colony at Plymouth, as we have minutely described in the History of Miles Standish. It will be remembered that the original company of Puritans were of English birth. Dissatisfied with the ritual and ceremonies which the Church of England had endeavored to impose upon them, they had emigrated to Holland, where they had formed a church upon their own model. Rev. John Robinson, a man of fervent piety and of enlightened views above his times, was their pastor.
After residing in Holland for several years, this little band of Englishmen, not pleased with that country as their permanent abode, decided to seek a new home upon the continent of North America. They first directed their attention towards Virginia, but various obstacles were thrown in their way by the British Government, and at length Mr. Robinson addressed a letter to the Dutch Company, intimating the disposition felt by certain members of his flock, to take up their residence at New Netherland.
The proposition was very cordially received. The intelligent gentlemen of that Company at once saw that there was thus presented to them an opportunity to establish a colony, at their trading post, which it would be wise to embrace. They therefore addressed a memorial upon the subject to the States-General, and to the Prince of Orange, in which they urged the importance of accepting the proposition which they had received from Mr. Robinson, and of thus commencing an agricultural colony upon the island of Manhattan. In this memorial they write under date of February, 1620:
"It now happens that there resides at Leyden an English
clergyman, well versed in the Dutch language, who is
favorably inclined to go and dwell there. Your petitioners
are assured that he knows more than four hundred families,
who, provided they were defended and secured there by your
Royal Highness, and that of the High and Mighty Lords
States-General, from all violence on the part of other
potentates, would depart thither, with him, from this
country and from England, to plant, forthwith, everywhere
the true and pure Christian religion; to instruct the
Indians of those countries in the true doctrine; to bring
them to the Christian belief; and likewise, through the
grace of the Lord, and for the greater honor of the rulers
of this land to people all that region under a new
dispensation; all under the order and command of your
princely Highness and of the High and Mighty Lords
States-General.
"Your petitioners have also learned that His Britannic
Majesty is inclined to people the aforesaid lands with
Englishmen; to destroy your petitioners' possessions and
discoveries, and also to deprive this State of its right to
these lands, while the ships belonging to this country,
which are there during the whole of the present year, will
apparently and probably be surprised by the English."
The petitioners therefore prayed that the request of Mr. Robinson might be favorably regarded; that the contemplated colony should be taken under the protection of the Dutch government, and that two ships of war should be sent out for the defence of the infant settlements.
The Dutch government was then upon the eve of a war with Spain, and all its energies were demanded in preparation for the conflict. They therefore quite peremptorily refused to entertain the petition of the New Netherland Company. Thus the destination of the Puritans was changed. Though they were not encouraged to commence their colonial life at New Netherland, still it was their intention when they sailed from England, to find a home somewhere in that vicinity, as England, as well as Holland, claimed the whole coast. A note, in the History of New Netherland, by E.B. O'Callaghan, contains the following interesting statement upon this subject:
"Some historians represent that the Pilgrims were taken
against their will to New Plymouth, by the treachery of the
captain of the Mayflower, who, they assert, was bribed by
the Dutch to land them at a distance from the Hudson river.
This has been shown, over and over again, to have been a
calumny; and, if any farther evidence were requisite, it is
now furnished, of a most conclusive nature, by the petition
in behalf of the Rev. Mr. Robinson's congregation, of Feb.
1620, and the rejection of its prayer by their High
Mightinesses.
"That the Dutch were anxious to secure the settlement of the
Pilgrims under them, is freely admitted by the latter.
Governor Bradford, in his History of the Plymouth Colony,
acknowledges it, and adds that the Dutch for that end made
them large offers.
"Winslow corroborates this in his 'Brief Narrative,' and
adds that the Dutch would have freely transported us to the
Hudson river, and furnished every family with cattle. The
whole of this evidence satisfactorily establishes the good
will of the Dutch people towards the English; while the
determination of the States-General proves that there was no
encouragement held out by the Dutch government to induce
them to settle in their American possessions. On the
contrary, having formally rejected their petition, they
thereby secured themselves against all suspicion of dealing
unfairly by those who afterwards landed at Cape Cod. It is
to be hoped, therefore, that even for the credit of the
Pilgrims, the idle tale will not be repeated."
There were many indications that a conflict would ere long arise between the Dutch and the English. The English repudiated entirely the Dutch claim to any right of possession on the Atlantic coast. They maintained their right to