To Englishmen, The English Claim To The Territory At "Hudson's River"
Was Valid, By Virtue Of The Discovery Of The
Cabots, under the law of
nations as then recognized, not withstanding Hudson's more particular
explorations of those parts in 1609,
In the service of Holland,
especially as no colony or permanent occupancy of the region by the
Dutch had been made.
Professor John Fiske shows that "it was not until the Protestant England
of Elizabeth had come to a life-and-death grapple with Spain, and not
until the discovery of America had advanced much nearer completion, so
that its value began to be more correctly understood, that political and
commercial motives combined in determining England to attack Spain
through America, and to deprive her of supremacy in the colonial and
maritime world. Then the voyages of the Cabots assumed an importance
entirely new, and could be quoted as the basis of a prior claim on the
part of the English Crown, to lands which it [through the Cabots] had
discovered."
Having in mind the terrible history of slaughter and reprisal between the
Spanish and French (Huguenot) settlers in Florida in 1565-67,
[Bancroft, History of the United States, vol. i. p. 68; Fiske,
Discovery of America, vol. ii. p. 511 et seq. With the terrible
experience of the Florida plantations in memory, the far-sighted
leaders of the Leyden church proposed to plant under the shelter of
an arm strong enough to protect them, and we find the Directors of
the New Netherland Company stating that the Leyden party (the
Pilgrims) can be induced to settle under Dutch auspices, "provided,
they would be guarded and preserved from all violence on the part of
other potentates, by the authority, and under the protection of your
Princely Excellency and the High and Mighty States General."
Petition of the Directors of the New Netherland Company to the
Prince of Orange.]
the Pilgrims recognized the need of a strong power behind them, under
whose aegis they might safely plant, and by virtue of whose might and
right they could hope to keep their lives and possessions. The King of
England had, in 1606, granted charters to the two Virginia Companies,
covering all the territory in dispute, and, there could be no doubt,
would protect these grants and British proprietorship therein, against
all comers. Indeed, the King (James I.) by letter to Sir Dudley
Carleton, his ambassador at the Hague, under date of December 15, 1621,
expressly claimed his rights in the New Netherland territory and
instructed him to impress upon the government of the States General his
Majesty's claim, - "who, 'jure prime occupation' hath good and sufficient
title to these parts." There can be no question that the overtures of
Sandys, Weston, and others to make interest for them with one of these
English Companies, agreed as well with both the preferences and
convictions of the Leyden Pilgrims, as they did with the hopes and
designs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In the light of these facts, there
appears to have been neither legal nor moral bar to the evident intention
of the Pilgrims to settle in the vicinity of "Hudson's River," if they so
elected.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 63 of 178
Words from 33321 to 33852
of 94513
