Many be any way troubled, molested, or discoun-, New-York, as well as with emigrants tenanced for his or her religion, or in the from England. The Earl of Shaftesbury, free exercise thereof." Meanwhile, Prot- when committed to the Tower in 1681, estant sects increased so much, that the begged for leave to exile himself to Carpolitical power of the state passed, at olina. length, entirely out of the hands of its Nor were they Churchmen only who founders, and before the war of the Rev-emigrated thither from England. olution, many churches had been planted Dissenters, disgusted with the unfavourain it by Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and ble state of things in that country, went Baptists. out also, carrying with them intelligence, industry, and sobriety. Joseph Blake, in particular, brother of the gallant admiral of that name, having inherited his broth er's fortune, devoted it to transporting his persecuted brethren to America, and conducted thither a company of them from Somersetshire. Thus the booty taken from New Spain helped to people South Carolina.* A colony from Ireland, also, went over, and were soon merged among the other colonists. North Carolina was first colonized by stragglers from Virginia settling on the rivers that flow into Albemarle Sound, and among these were a good many Quakers, driven out of Virginia by the intolerance of its laws. This was about the middle of the seventeenth century. Puritans from New-England, and emigrants from Barbadoes, followed in succession; but the Dissenters from Virginia predominated. Religion for a long while seems to have received but little attention. William Edmunson and George Fox visited their Quaker friends among the pine groves of Albemarle in 1672, and found a tender people." A Quarterly Meeting was established, and thenceforward that religious body may be said to have organized a spiritual government in the colony. But it was long before any other made much progress. No Episcopal minister was settled in it until 1703, and no church built until 1705. Such was the character of what might be called the substratum of the population in South Carolina. The colonists were of various origin, but many of them had carried thither the love of true religion, and the number of such soon increased. Poor Georgia, of all the original thirteen colonies, ranks latest in point of date. The good Oglethorpe, one of the finest speciinens of a Christian gentleman of the Cavalier school, one who loved his king and The Proprietaries, it is true, who obtain- his Church, led over a mixed people to ed North as well as South Carolina from settle on the banks of the Savannah. Charles II., professed to be actuated by a debtors, taken from the prisons of England, "laudable and pious zeal for the propaga- formed a strange medley with godly Motion of the Gospel ;" but they did nothing ravians from Herrnhut in Germany, and to vindicate their claim to such praise. In brave Highlanders from Scotland. Το their "Constitutions" they maintained, that Georgia, also, were directed the youthful religion and the profession of it were in- steps of those two wonderful men, John dispensable to the well-being of the state and Charles Wesley, and the still more eland privileges of citizenship; vain words, oquent Whitefield, who made the pine foras long as no measures were taken to pro-ests that stretch from the Savannah to the mote what they thus lauded. But we shall Altamaha resound with the tones of their yet see that, little as true religion owed in fervid piety. In Georgia, too, was built North Carolina to the first settlers, or to the "Orphan House," for the erection of the Proprietaries, that state eventually ob- which so much eloquence was poured tained a large population of a truly reli- forth, both in England and in the Atlantic gious character, partly from the emigra- cities of her American colonies, by the tion of Christians from France and Scot-last-named herald of the Gospel, but which land, partly from the increase of Puritans from New-England. South Carolina began to be colonized in 1670 by settlers shipped to the province by the Proprietaries, and from that time forward it received a considerable accession of emigrants almost every year. Its climate was represented as being the finest in the world: under its almost tropical sun flowers were said to blossom every month of the year: orange groves were to supplant those of cedar, silk-worms were to be fed on mulberry-trees introduced from the south of France, and the choicest wines were to be produced. Ships arrived with Dutch settlers from was not destined to fulfil the expectations of its good and great founder. Thus we find that religion was not the predominating motive that led to the colonization of the Southern States, as was the case with New-England; and yet it cannot be said to have been altogether wanting. It is remarkable, that in every charter granted to the Southern colonies, "the propagation of the Gospel" is mentioned as one of the reasons for the planting of them being undertaken. And we shall see that that essential element of a people's prosperity ultimately received a * Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 172, 173. vast accession of strength from the emi- | grants whom God was preparing to send from the Old World to those parts of the New. CHAPTER VI. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLO- WE now proceed to give some account of the intermediate states between NewEngland and those in the South, comprising New-York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. We begin with NewYork, which, as we have seen, was first colonized by the Dutch. first a mere station for traders, gradually bore the appearance of a regular plantation; and New Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island, began to look like some thriving town, with its little fleet of Dutch ships almost continually lying at its wharves. Settle ments were also made at the west end of Long Island, on Staten Island, along the North River up to Albany, and even beyond that, as well as at Bergen, at various points on the Hackensack, and on the Raritan, in what was afterward New-Jersey. of friendship and commerce was proposed. "Our children after us," said the Pilgrims, "shall never forget the good and courteous entreaty which we found in your country, and shall desire your prosperity forever." Harmony at this time subsisted between the Dutch and their Puritan neighbours, notwithstanding the dispute about their respective boundaries. In 1627, we find the Governor of New Netherlands, or New Belgium, as the country was sometimes called, pay"The spirit of the age," says an eloquenting a visit of courtesy and friendship to the author,* to whom we have often referred, Plymouth colony, by which he was receivwas present when the foundations of New-ed with "the noise of trumpets." A treaty York were laid. Every great European event affected the fortunes of America. Did a state prosper, it sought an increase of wealth by plantations in the West: Was a sect persecuted, it escaped to the New World. The Reformation, followed by collisions between English Dissenters and the Anglican hierarchy, colonized New-England. The Reformation, emancipating the United Provinces, led to European settlements on the Hudson. The Netherlands divide with England the glory of having planted the first colonies in the United States: they also divide the glory of having set the example of public freedom. If England gave our fathers the idea of a popular representation, Holland originated for them the principle of federal union." It was the Dutch, we remarked, who first discovered the Rivers Hudson and Connecticut, and probably the Delaware also. In 1614, five years after Henry Hudson had sailed up the first of those streams, and to which he gave his name, they erected a few huts upon Manhattan Island, where now stands the city of New-York. The first attempts to establish trading stations, for they hardly could be called settlements, were made by the merchants of Amsterdam. But when the Dutch West India Company was formed, in 1621, it obtained a monopoly of the trade with all parts of the Atlantic coast claimed by Holland in North America. Colonization on the Hudson River does not appear to have been the main object of that Company. The territory of New Netherlands was not even named in the charter, nor did the States-General guaranty its possession and protection. Trade with the natives in skins and furs was, in fact, the primary and almost exclusive object. But in a few years, as the families of the Company's factors increased, what was at Mr. Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 256. The colony, as it extended, gradually penetrated into the interior of East Jersey, and along the shores of the Delaware. Still, receiving neither protection nor encouragement from the fatherland, and abandoned to the tender mercies of a low-minded commercial corporation, its progress was not what might have been expected. It had not always wise governors. The infamous Kieft, neglecting to conciliate the Indians, allowed the settlers on Staten Island to be destroyed by the savages of NewJersey; and having, in a most wanton attack upon a tribe of the friendly Algonquins, massacred many of them in cold blood, the colony lay for two whole years (1643-1645) exposed to attack at all points, and was threatened with absolute ruin. From the banks of the Raritan to the borders of the Connecticut, not a bowery" (farm) was safe. "Mine eyes," says an eyewitness, "saw the flames of their towns, and the flights and hurries of men, women, and children, the present removal of all that could to Holland!" In this war the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, one of the most extraordinary women of her age, was murdered by the Indians, together with all her family, with but one exception. 66 Next to this disastrous war, the colony was most retarded by the want of a popular form of government, and by the determination of the West India Company not to concede one. The first founders of New Netherlands were men of a bold and enterprising turn, whose chief motive in leaving Holland was, no doubt, the acquisition of wealth. educated in the National Dutch Church, they brought with them a strong attach But Holland to America was Robert Livingston, ancestor of the numerous and distinguished family of that name to be found in various parts of America, but particularly in the State of New-York, and son of that pious and celebrated minister, the Rev. John Livingston, of Scotland, who, after being eminently blessed in his labours in his native country, was, in 1663, driven by persecution into Holland, where he spent ment to its doctrines, worship, and govern-, Among others who thus came by way of ment; and however deeply interested in their secular pursuits, they unquestionably took early measures to have the Gospel preached purely among them, and to have the religious institutions of their fatherland planted and maintained in their adopted country. A church was organized at New Amsterdam, now New-York, not later, probably, than 1619; and there was one at Albany as early, if not earlier. The first minister of the Gospel settled at New-the remainder of his life as minister of the York was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus. Scotch Church at Rotterdam. Several causes retarded the progress of religion among the Dutch colonists in America. One was the unsettled state of the country, caused by actual or dreaded hostilities with the Indians; another lay in the churches being long unnecessarily dependant for their pastors on the classis, or presbytery, of Amsterdam; a body which, however well disposed, was at too remote a distance to exercise a proper judgment in selecting such ministers as the circumstances of the country and the people required; a third is to be found in the lateness of the introduction of the English tongue into the public services of the churches; it ought to have occurred at least fifty years sooner. The Dutch language was exclusively used in the Dutch churches until 1764, being exactly a century after the colony had fallen into the hands of the English. As soon as that event took place, the new governor made great efforts to introduce the language of his own country, by opening schools in which it was taught. This, together with the introduction of the English Episcopal Church, and the encouragement it received from Governor Fletcher, in 1693, made the new language come rapidly into use. The younger colonists began to urge that, for a part of the day at least, English should be used in the churches; or that new churches should be built for those who commonly spoke that tongue. At length, after much opposition from some who Notwithstanding these hinderances, the dreaded lest, together with the language of blessed Gospel was widely and successtheir fathers, their good old doctrines, lit- fully preached and maintained in the colourgy, catechisms, and all should disappear, ny, both when under the government of the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, a distinguished Scotch Holland and afterward. Its beneficial inminister who had been settled in an Eng-fluence was seen in the strict and wholelish Presbyterian church at Flushing, in Holland, connected with the Reformed Dutch Church, was invited to New-York, in order to commence Divine service there in English. Having accepted this call, he was, in 1764, transferred to that city, and in his new charge his labours were long and greatly blessed. From that time the Dutch language gradually disappeared, so that hardly a vestige of it now remains. The population of New Netherlands, when it fell into the hands of the English, is supposed to have been about ten thousand, or half as many as that of NewEngland at the same date. There has been a slight emigration to it from Holland ever since, too small, however, to be regarded as of any importance. But all the emigrants from Dutch ports to America were not Hollanders. The Reformation had made the Dutch an independent nation, and the long and bitter experience they had had of oppression led them to offer an asylum to the persecuted Protestants of England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Germany.* This has often been made an occasion of reproach and ridicule by men of more wit than grace or sense. Beaumont and Fletcher, in their "Maid of the Inn," introduce one of their characters as saying, "I am a schoolmaster, sir, and would fain E some morals that characterized the com- Confer with you about erecting four And Andrew Marvell, in his "Character of Holland," writes: "Sure, when religion did itself embark, And from the East would westward steer its bark, Rev. Gilbert Tennent, who, in a letter to dislike to innovation of every kind, yet, Mr. Prince, of Boston, says, "The labours taken as a whole, they have been uniformly of Mr. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch minister, a religious and virtuous people, and constiwere much blessed to the people of New-tute a most valuable part of the American Brunswick and places adjacent, especially nation. Some of them have found a place about the time of his coming among them. among our most illustrious statesmen. When I came, which was about seven Emigrants from the country of Grotius and years after, I had the pleasure of seeing John De Witt have furnished one President much of the fruits of his ministry: divers and three Vice-presidents to the Republic of his hearers, with whom I had opportu- which they have done so much to establish nity of conversing, appeared to be con- and maintain. They have preserved to verted persons, by their soundness in prin- this day the Church planted by their foreciple, Christian experience, and pious prac- fathers in America; but although a very tice; and these persons declared that his respectable part of them still adhere to it, ministrations were the means thereof."* a greater number have joined the Episcopal Among the latter was the late J. H. Liv- Church, and many belong to other denomingston, D.D., who died in 1825, after being inations. for a long time one of the most distinguished ministers in the United States. On his return from Holland, he was for many years a pastor in New-York, and thereafter divinity professor in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE EARLY COLOChurch at New-Brunswick, in the State of New-Jersey. He was one of those who, HOLLANDERS from New Amsterdam were though born to fill a large space in the his- the first European inhabitants of New-Jertory of the Church, yet spend their lives in sey, and, during the continuance of the the calm and unostentatious discharge of Dutch dominion in America, it formed part the duties of their calling. The impress of of New Netherlands. The first settlement his labours and character will long be felt was at Bergen, but the plantations extended in the Church of which he was so distin-afterward to the Hackensack, the Passaic, guished an ornament. The descendants of the Dutch are numerous, and widely dispersed in America. They constitute a large proportion of the inhabitants of the southern part of the State of New-York and eastern part of NewJersey, besides forming a very considerable body in the north and west of the former of these states. But they are to be found also in larger or smaller numbers in all parts of the confederacy. Though often made the butts of ridicule for their simplicity, slowness of movement, and * Prince's Christian History. I may add, that the Mr. Frelinghuysen spoken of in the text was the ancestor of three brothers of the same name, who have adorned the profession of the law in the present generation, one of whom, the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, was for several years a distinguished member of the Senate of the United States, and is now Chancellor of the University of New-York. CHAPTER VII. NISTS.-FOUNDERS OF NEW-JERSEY. and the Raritan. It is probable that a few families had settled even on the Delaware, opposite Newcastle, before the cession of the country to the English in 1664. But the Dutch were not the only colonists of New-Jersey. A company of the same race of English Puritans that had colonized New-England left the eastern end of Long Island in 1664, and established themselves at Elizabethtown. They must have been few in number, for four houses only were found there the following year, on the arrival of Philip Carteret, as governor of the province. Woodbridge, Middletown, and Shrewsbury were founded about the same time by settlers from Long Island and Connecticut. Newark was founded in 1667 or 1668, by a colony of about thirty families, chiefly from Brandon in Connecticut. Colonists from New-Haven bought land +Their Yankee neighbours, as the New-England families were sent to occupy it, but their on both sides of the Delaware, and fifty people are called, tell a thousand stories showing the simplicity of the Dutch. One of the best which trading establishments were broken up, and I have heard is that respecting a wealthy Dutch the colony dispersed, in consequence of farmer, in the State of New-York, who had erected the Dutch claiming the country. There a church in his neighbourhood at his own expense, are extant memorials, however, in the recand was advised (probably by some very sensible Yankee) to attach a lightning-rod to it. But he re-ords of Cumberland and Cape May counceived the suggestion with displeasure, as if God ties, that colonies from New-England eswould set fire to his own house! Another is as fol- tablished themselves in these, not very long lows: Shortly after the arrival of the Rev. Dr. Laid- after the province changed its masters. lie, and the commencement of his labours, he was thus The middle parts were gradually occupied accosted by some excellent old people, at the close of a prayer-meeting one evening, in which he had by Dutch and New-England settlers in their most fervently addressed the throne of grace: "Ah, progress westward, and also by a considerDomine! (the title which the Dutch, in their affec-able number of Scotch and Irish emigrants tion, give to their pastors) we offered up many an—all Protestants, and most of them Presearnest prayer in Dutch for your coming among us; and truly the Lord has heard us in English, and sent byterians. you to us." gree as to change the general character of the inhabitants. The population, upon the whole, remained decidedly Puritan, though combining the elements of a Scotch, Dutch, and New-England Presbyterianism. It was much otherwise with West NewJersey. With the exception of a few churches planted here and there by other denominations, and standing like islands in this sea of the religion of George Fox, Salem, Gloucester, and Burlington counties were peopled almost entirely with Quakers, and their religion flourishes there to this day. It will be remembered that, by the gift of his brother, Charles II., the Duke of York became "Proprietary" of all that part of America ceded by the Dutch to the English in 1664. That same year the duke sold New-Jersey to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, in honour of the former of whom it took the name that it bears to this day. They immediately appointed a governor, and gave the colonists a popular form of government. The Legislature, however, soon became the organ of popular disaffection; few were willing to purchase a title to the soil from the Indians, and to pay quit-rents to the proprietaries besides. After about twelve years of embarrassAfter some years of severe struggles be- ment, commencing with the Revolution tween the colonists and their governors, of 1688 in England, the Proprietaries of Lord Berkeley became tired of the strife, both East and West New-Jersey surrenand in 1674 sold the moiety of New-Jer- dered "their pretended right of governsey to Quakers for £1000, John Fenwick ment" to the British crown, and in 1702, acting as agent in the transaction for Ed- both provinces, united into one, were plaward Byllinge and his assigns. Fenwick ced for a time under the Governor of Newleft England the following year, accompa- York, retaining, however, their own Legisnied by a great many families of that per- lature. The population, notwithstanding secuted sect, and formed the settlement of the difficulties and irritation caused by poSalem, on the Delaware. Lands in West litical disputes intimately affecting their Jersey were now offered for sale by the interests, steadily increased. Taken as a Quaker company, and hundreds of colonists whole, few parts of America have been soon settled upon them. In 1676 they ob- colonized by a people more decidedly retained from Carteret the right, so far as he ligious in principle, or more intelligent was concerned, to institute a government and virtuous; and such, in the main, are of their own in West Jersey, and proceeded, their descendants at the present day. Nothe year following, to lay the groundwork where in the United States have the churchin the "Concessions," as their fundamental es been supplied with a more faithful or deed was called. Its main feature was, an abler ministry. New-Jersey was the that "it put the power in the people." scene of the excellent David Brainerd's Forthwith great numbers of English Qua- labours among the Indians, during the latkers flocked to West Jersey, with the view ter years of his short but useful life. There, of permanently settling there. A title to too, laboured the celebrated William Tenthe lands was purchased from the Indians, nent, and those other faithful servants of at a council held under the shade of the God in whose society Whitefield found so forest, at the spot where the town of Bur- much enjoyment, and whose ministrations lington now stands; there the tawny chil- were so much blessed. There, and pardren of the wood conveyed to the men of ticularly in the eastern section of the provpeace the domain which they desired. ince, many have been witnesses of those "You are our brothers," said the sachems, outpourings of the Holy Spirit, which we "and we will live like brothers with you. shall have occasion in another place to We will make a broad path for you and us speak of. And, lastly, in New-Jersey was to walk in. If an Englishman falls asleep planted the fourth, in point of date, of the in this path, the Indian shall pass him by American colleges, commonly called Nasand say, He is an Englishman; he is sau Hall, but more properly the College asleep; let him alone. The path shall be of New-Jersey. That college has had for plain; there shall not be in it a stump to its presidents some of the greatest divines hurt the feet."* And they kept their word. that have ever lived in America, DickinIn November, 1681, Jennings, who act-son, Burr, the elder Edwards, Finley, Withed as governor for the Proprietaries, con-erspoon, Smith, Green, &c., and it is still vened the first Quaker Legislature ever as flourishing as ever, although a sister inknown to have met. The year following, stitution has arisen at New-Brunswick, to by obtaining the choice of their own chief co-operate in diffusing blessings throughruler, the colonists completed the meas-out the state. I may add, that no state in ure of their self-government. In the year following that, again, William Penn and eleven others bought East New-Jersey from Carteret's heirs, and from that time a Quaker emigration set into that division of the province, but never to such a deSmith's "History of New-Jersey." the American Union has more decidedly proved the importance of having a good original population, nor has any state done more, in proportion to its population and resources, to sustain the honour and promote the best interests of the American nation. |