66 



THE FEENCH BLOOD IK AMERICA 



Woollen 

 Manufactures 



A French 

 Section 



A Dutch 



Estimate 1750 



an illustration. The exiles reached there, as the munici- 

 pal records state, "in a sorely destitute state, lacking 

 the means of life, and in no wise able to sustain their 

 families." But not long did they require town help or 

 support. Their woollen manufacture increased till the 

 town became too small for them, and they built the 

 Nieuwe Stad (new city). Besides cloth, druggets, and 

 such woollen stuffs, they introduced into Haarlem a 

 variety of silk product, velvet, plush, and the like, 

 which, though coarser than the original manufactures 

 at Lyons, Tours and Paris, were long in great demand 

 abroad because cheaper. Haarlem was soon outstripped 

 in the woollen trade by Leyden, where the French made 

 the finest cloth, the best serges to be found in the country. 

 The comfort of these thrifty and expert immigrants was 

 such that even Eoman Catholic soldiers would desert to 

 settle there. 



But Amsterdam was the centre, and a whole quarter 

 of the city was settled by the Protestant workmen of 

 Pierre Bailie, the richest manufacturer of his district in 

 France. Before this, Amsterdam had been busied al- 

 most exclusively with maritime commerce. Now, in- 

 dustries were rising everywhere in silk and wool and 

 linen ; a new part of the city, as at Haarlem, was built 

 for the workers, and almost entirely occupied by hat 

 manufactories. Paper mills were in plenty also, and the 

 book trade was largely stimulated. 



These cases are typical of the impulse given by the 

 French refugees to trade. What was true of Holland 

 and its cities was true also of England and Ireland, of 

 Germany and Switzerland, of Sweden and Austria, and 

 not least of America, where the French transplanted 

 their commercial, industrial, agricultural and religious 

 characteristics in full measure. 



Here is what a writer in the Nederlandsche Spectator 

 of 1750, who does not quite like the dash and swing and 

 success of the newcomei-s, in contrast to the Dutch 



