History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 1. Frederic Shonnard
conceivable that not in frequent landings were made by the bartering Dutchmen at the various Indian villages on our Westchester shore in these first days of Hudson River commerce.
On the 1st of January, 1618, the charter of the New Netherland Company expired by time limitation. Application for its renewal was refused, and from that date until July, 1621, the whole of New Netherland was a free field for whomsoever might care to assume the expense and hazard of enterprises within its borders. This peculiar condition was not, however, due to any nagging of interest in their American possessions on the part of the Dutch government, but was an incident of a well-considered political programme which was kept in abeyance because of the circumstances of the time, to be launched in the fullness of events.
The twelve years' truce between Holland and Spain, signed in 1609, was now drawing to its close. The question of the continuance of peace or the resumption of war was still a doubtful one, contingent upon the ultimate disposition of Spain, for the people of the Nether lands were resolved in no case to accept anything but absolute independence. In the eventuality of war it would become a particularly important part of Dutch policy not merely to provide for the protection of the new provinces in America and their prospective inhabit ants, but to cope with the formidable Spanish maritime power in American waters, and as far as possible prey upon the rich commerce of Spain with that quarter of the globe and even wrest territory from her there. To this end it was more than idle to consider the rechartering of a weak aggregation of skippers and their financial sponsors as the sole delegate and upholder of the dignity and strength of the republic in the western seas. If hostilities were to be renewed it would be indispensable to institute an organization in connection with New Netherland powerful enough to encounter the fleets of Spain on at least an equal footing. A perfect pattern for such an organization already existed in the Dutch East India Company. The creation of a West India Company on similar lines to meet the expected need was the grand scheme of statecraft which caused the States-General to reject the solicitations of the worthy traders of the New Netherland Company for a continuation of their valuable monopoly.
This was, moreover, no newly devised plan. In 1604, two years after the establishment of the East India Company, and long before the first appearance of the Dutch nag on the American coast, the conception of a West India Company was carefully formulated in a paper drawn up by one William Usselinx and presented, progressively, to the board of burgomasters of Amsterdam, the legislature or " states " of Holland province, and the States-General of the nation. In this document Usselinx proposed the formation of "a strong financial corporation, similar to that exploiting the East Indies, for the fitting out of armed vessels to attack the fleets of Spain and make conquest of her possessions in the American hemisphere." But it was deemed inexpedient to sanction such a venture at the time.
Upon the termination of the twelve years' truce, in the spring of 1621, and the revival of the war between the two countries, the Dutch statesmen had the details of the much-cherished West Indian Company enterprise thoroughly matured, and on the 3rd of June of that year the charter of the new corporation, comprising a preamble and forty-five articles, was duly signed. The subscriptions to its stock, which was required by law to be not less than seven millions of florins ($2,800,000), were immediately forthcoming. But although the existence of the company dated from July 1, 1621, it was some two years before its charter took complete effect, various disputed points not being immediately adjustable. Twelve additional articles were subsequently incorporated, the whole instrument receiving final approval on the 21st of June, 1623.
The Dutch West India Company, to whose care the conversion of the American wilderness into a habitation for civilized man was thus committed, and under whose auspices European institutions were first planted and organized government was erected and for many years administered here, was in its basic constitution a most notable body, partaking of the character of a civil congress so far as that is practicable for an association pursuing essential mercantile ends. It had a central directorate or executive board, officially styled the assembly of the XIX., which was composed of nineteen delegates, eighteen being elected from five local chambers, and the nineteenth being the direct representative of " their High Mightinesses, the States-General of the United Provinces." The five local chambers were subordinate bodies which met independently, embracing shareholders from Amsterdam, Zeeland, the Meuse (including the cities of Dort, Rotterdam, and Delft), the North Quarter (which comprised the cities of North Holland outside of Amsterdam), and Friesland. The controlling in fluence in the company was that of the City of Amsterdam, which at first sent eight and later nine delegates to the Assembly of the XIX. The spheres of trade marked out for and confirmed to the company, " to the exclusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants within the bounds of the United Provinces," comprehended both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of the two Americas, from the Straits of Magellan to the extreme north, and, in addition, the African coast from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope.
The rights and powers vested in the corporation fell short of those of actual independent sovereignty only in the particulars that the more weighty acts of the company, as declarations of war and conclusions of peace, were subject to the approval of the Dutch government, and that the officers appointed to rule distant countries, and their underlings, should be acceptable to the States-General and should take the oath of fealty to the Netherlands republic. " To protect its commerce and dependencies, the company was empowered to erect forts and fortifications; to administer justice and preserve order; maintain police and exercise the government generally of its transmarine affairs; declare war and make peace, with the consent of the States General, and, with their approbation, appoint a governor or director general and all other officers, civil, military, judicial, and executive, who were bound to swear allegiance to their High Mightinesses, as well as to the company itself. The director-general and his council were invested with all powers, judicial, legislative, and executive, subject, some supposed, to appeal to Holland, but the will of the company, expressed in their instructions or declared in their marine or military ordinances, was to be the law of New Netherland, excepting in cases not especially provided for, when the Roman law, the imperial statutes of Charles V., the edicts, resolutions, and customs of Patria — Fatherland — were to be received as the paramount rule of action."
One of the primary aims in the construction of this mighty corporation being to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime power in the struggle with Spain, very precise provisions were made for that purpose. " The States-General engaged to assist them with a million of guilders, equal to nearly half a million of dollars; and in case peace should be disturbed, with sixteen vessels of war and fourteen yachts, fully armed and equipped — the former to be at least of three hundred and the latter of eighty tons' burden; but these vessels were to be maintained at the expense of the company, which was to furnish, unconditionally, sixteen ships and fourteen yachts, of like tonnage, for the defense of trade and purposes of war, which, with all merchant vessels, were to be commanded by an admiral appointed and instructed by their High Mightinesses."
And this magnificent programme of naval aggression was no mere wordy ornamentation woven into the prosaic context of a matter-of-fact commercial agreement for flattering effect. The West India Company, with its ships of war and armed merchantmen, under brilliant commanders, scoured the Spanish Main, capturing many a richly freighted bark of the enemy, and, not content with the prizes of the high seas, it dispatched expeditions to attack the Spanish territorial possessions in the Antilles and South America, which proceeded from conquest to conquest. By its energy and prowess, in the name of the republic of the United Netherlands, was begun in the first half of the seventeenth century the work of dismemberment of the vast Spanish empire in the New World which now, at the close of the nineteenth century, has been so gloriously completed by the arms of the republic of the United States. On the South American mainland Brazil, a province of Portugal, at that time tributary to Spain, was conquered and held for several years as Dutch territory, and the country known as Dutch Guiana, where the flag of Holland still floats, also yielded itself to these merchant princes of the Netherlands. In addition numerous West India islands were taken. A celebrated episode of the company's naval operations during the war was the capture of the Spanish " Silver Fleet " ( 1628) , having the enormous value of $4,600,000 in our money. The financial concerns of the corporation prospered exceedingly as the result of these and other successes. In 1629 a dividend of fifty per cent, was declared, and in 1630 a dividend of twenty-five